Behind These Lies
by Caz-Yaz
Summary: Ever since her first day at WMHS Quinn Fabray has been living a lie. Can she get past her insecurities and expectations and admit that not everything is within her control before she loses the first thing she's ever really wanted?  Faberry Femslash
1. Chapter 1

**Ok then, I just wrote this and I don't have no clue where it could go so if you like it then please review and give me some suggestions if you have any or if you even what to see it go anywhere? I hope you enjoy it!**

Quinn Fabray hated Rachel Berry. This was common knowledge at William McKinley High School and most of Lima, Ohio. It was a given like the sky being blue and the grass being green. No one questioned it because it was just a fact of life, there was no obvious reason for the hate and torment but it became as fundamental as oxygen is to life in the social Hierarchy of WMHS. Quinn Fabray was the top and Rachel 'Man hands' Berry was below the bottom.

No one questioned this except of course for Rachel Berry. She knew that Quinn was a straight, no questions asked Christian and so disapproved of her two gay dads but that surely couldn't be the reason why she had been tormented ever since the second day of her Freshman year. Rachel had kept her head down, quietly working in class and only asking speaking out when her teacher was obviously in the wrong or she had an answer to a question. Rachel didn't even know Quinn Fabray existed until she was stood in front of her holding an empty slushy cup, the contents of which had been thrown all over her white and blue argyle jumper just a few seconds earlier. A week later she was being called 'Rupaul' by the same girl only now wearing a ridiculously overly suggestive Cheerio's uniform. From that day on Rachel Berry was firmly cemented to the bottom rung of the social ladder.

Being in Glee club didn't seem to help her with her school status but Rachel had gone past caring after a year of constant and unnecessary torture at the hands of Quinn and her band of blissfully ignorant Cheerios. When Finn had joined Rachel thought that things would start to turn around however all hope was soon dashed when Rachel discovered the boy she was crushing on was dating none other than Quinn Fabray. It seemed like even God was against her most of the time. Rachel's pursuit of the 'star' quarterback only made her life even worse as Quinn now had a viable reason to dislike her and decided that she needed to keep track of him in Glee club as well. It seemed that Rachel Berry's road to stardom was not meant to be easy however it would make her autobiography a bit more interesting.

Two weeks after Quinn had joined Glee club it was obvious that her attitude towards Rachel was not going to improve even though the diva had stopped her quest for Finn. She had successfully managed to trip the brunette during a performance of 'Don't Stop Believing' causing the short girl to collide with a chair and smack her elbow against the piano which earned a chorus of laughter from much of the glee club and a few concerned questions from Finn and Mr. Schuester. Finn's concern only angered the blonde more and snapped her head up from watching Rachel rubbing her elbow in pain to glare at Finn.

"What do you care Finn?" she demanded "It's only Rupaul."

"Quinn," Mr Schue snapped at the head Cheerio "apologise to Rachel!" The blonde turned to their glee coach with a disbelieving look on her face.

"Why would I apologise, if she'd been looking where she was going and not making puppy eyes at my boyfriend then she wouldn't have walked into my foot!" she shot back.

"I was not making puppy eyes at your boyfriend Quinn. While I may have had a crush on Finn when he first came to glee club due to his superior vocal skills I did not act upon them as I discovered that he was in a relationship and it would therefore be against my moral code to have attempted to engage in anything with him. While you may-"

"Shut up Man hands!" Quinn yelled at the brunette who had stood up during her speech. "You should have been watching where you were going!"

"I shouldn't have had to, your foot would not have been in my way if you were correctly following the choreographed dance routine which therefore leads me to believe that you were not and since you are head Cheerio it is obvious that you can remember a dance routine and I am consequently lead to believe that you decided to break step and place your foot in my way in order to trip me up and cause me to disrupt the performance and ultimately hurt my arm." Rachel managed to respond in one breath.

"Whatever, just watch where you're going next time Rupaul." The blonde spat before turning away and linking arms with Finn. Practice was over for the day and WMHS's power couple quickly left the classroom followed by the rest of the club leaving Rachel to pack up her things in the empty choir room. The young diva sighed as she put away the binder of sheet music she carried around with her everywhere. Pulling her wheelie bag behind her she exited the deserted building into the nearly empty lot. There were a few teachers' cars to the far side of the lot and one car parked a few metres from her. As Rachel looked closer she realised that inside the car was Quinn and Finn making out, Quinn straddling Finn on the driver's seat. The site made her angry for no obvious reason. Quinn began to kiss down Finn's neck and the diva wondered why they couldn't have at least waited to get out of the lot before sucking face instead of inflicting the site on her.

Just as Rachel thought this Quinn's eyes opened and looked directly at her and a frustrated and almost angry look came over her face before the blonde closed her eyes tightly in what seemed like desperation and went to attacking Finn's face with ferocity. Rachel stared at the car in confusion. What on earth was that look on the Cheerio's face about? The brunette snapped out of her confused state enough to realise she was staring and began to briskly walk towards her black SUV. She must have been seeing things because that definitely wasn't the sort of face that Rachel thought people made when they were engaged in that sort of activity. She shook the thoughts from her head and started her car and headed home to prepare to record her daily myspace video.

Quinn pushed herself away from Finn who was now trying to push his clown hands up her shirt while what felt like assaulting her tongue. "Ugh" she breathed while untangling herself from the lumbering quarterback. Finn's black eyes stared back at her and she felt angry momentarily before pushing the emotion from her mind. This was what she wanted, what she had decided.

"Take me home Finn." She stated without looking at him. His breath was falling heavy and she could tell he was grinning stupidly at her.

"Sure babe, are your parents there?"

"Probably not but that doesn't mean you're coming in."

"Ah come on, we've been dating for nearly a year now and you won't even let me touch your boobs." He moaned. Quinn glared at him in disgust.

"I told you Finn, I'm not ready yet. Now take me home." Quinn knew she needed to be ready soon, this Berry thing was getting ridiculous now. Sleeping with Finn would stop her mind from wander to the brunette like before. Her mind had pictured Berry stood outside the car watching her with Finn and sent a wave of guilt through her body. The memory sent the guilt back through system and she snapped at Finn. "Stop gawking at me and drive!" the boy looked slightly hurt but Quinn's expression was still hard as stone. Why couldn't she feel guilty for snapping at Finn? Not for kissing him.

Finn started the car and drove to the blonde's house, parking up in the driveway. He leaned in for another kiss but Quinn just pecked his cheek and jumped out the car without even glancing back. Clearly the impromptu make out session in the school parking lot was his fill for today. The gangly boy ran a hand through his hair before shaking his head and pulling out of the Fabray's drive with a goofy smile still plastered to his face.

Quinn dropped her bag on her bed and checked her phone for messages, none. Her parents wouldn't be back until at least seven so she opened her laptop and logged onto myspace, Berry had posted another video this time she was singing 'Defying Gravity'. Quinn pressed play and watched as Berry beamed at the camera and announced the title of the song with excitement before launching into the song. Quinn's stomach lurched familiarly and she growled at the screen before pressing the comment button and typing, or rather punching in, "Go die Man hands!" and angrily clicking post. She slammed down the screen and storming into her bathroom to take a shower and calm down. Why couldn't she just not watch the videos? Every time she watched she just ended up angry and frustrated at the dumb feeling her stomach.

The warm water ran through her hair and down her back, relaxing her muscles as it went. She let out a long sigh. It really would be easier if Berry were to just die. The thought made her feel guilty and she slammed her hand into the glass of the shower door. "Argh!" she growled into the air, "I want Finn!" she yelled to herself. The lie was starting to wear thin even to herself. It had been working so well up until now. Quinn Fabray the Head Cheerleader and Finn Hudson the 'star' Quarterback. It was so cliché just like her whole life. Quinn Fabray the perfect Christian daughter of Russell and Judy Fabray, went to church and sat on the front row every Sunday without fail, innocent and gloriously naive, paraded out for her parents equally clichéd friends since the day she could walk. It should have been obvious that something this perfect couldn't exist or at least couldn't last past the age of 16. Yeah, Quinn would blame her parents for making her live such a sheltered life, shielding her from everything that they didn't approve of so that when she came across something different it caught her attention.

Rachel Berry was definitely something different; self assured and confident despite being so different to everyone else around her. It was clear that she didn't care what anyone else thought of her, this was made clear by her choice in outfit, and she had caught Quinn's eye. She was intrigued by the brunette however it soon became clear that she couldn't talk to the girl. People were avoiding her and she heard that it was because she had two gay dads, her parents definitely would not approve of that. For some reason that seemed to draw Quinn towards the short girl even more. Cheerio trails were that night and when she was awarded Head Cheerleader she had to assert her authority and show the rest of the school that she was on top or else she'd be eaten alive.

The decision to slushie Rachel had been mostly Santana's however Quinn offered to do it. She was entirely sure why she had offered at the time but after the icy liquid had splattered all over the shorter girl she realised it was for attention. The girl knew who she was now and it nearly made Quinn smile. That was until the girl looked up at her with shock and hurt clear in her eyes and the blonde's breath caught, she covered it with a glare and walked away quickly, dumping the cup in the trash on her way back to a now sniggering Santana and a somewhat oblivious Brittany who stood beside her. Quinn pushed aside the guilt she felt and joined the girls with a somewhat forced yet triumphant smile. After that day she came up with nicknames to call the girl which she assured herself were to assert her power rather then get her attention. Finn soon asked her out and she accepted as it was what everyone expected. She was firmly plastered at the top of the unstable and very changeable social pyramid, everyone was below her and it felt almost good.

Quinn turned off the shower and pulled a towel over her face to dry it. She was the Head Bitch In Charge, powerful yet fake right to the core. She sighed and wrapped the towel around herself before walking back into her room. She should change but it was so easy to just carry on not caring, or at least pretending not to care. Blaming everyone else was so much easier than blaming herself and so that's what she'd continue to do until she was forced to think otherwise.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Right well here's a second slightly longer chapter that I hope you guys enjoy, I probably won't be updating daily since I go back to college on Friday but I'll try my best. Enjoy and please review because I really need your feedback! =]**

Rachel Berry turned off her alarm clock after the second beep of her alarm at 6am. She jumped out of her bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top before grabbing her iPod and climbing onto the elliptical machine and selecting her workout playlist. Madonna began to play through her headphones as the familiar whirring of the exercise machine stared up.

After half an hour she jumped off and took a quick 10 minute shower before selecting a suitable sweater and skirt combo and pulling the familiar knee high's up her legs. She walked downstairs and entered the kitchen to get a bowl of bran flakes.

"Hey Rach, sleep well?"

"Yes thank you daddy." She replied happily to her daddy Mark, a relatively short man with sandy hair and glasses. He smiled warmly at his daughter and motioned to the coffee pot he was currently pouring from.

"No thanks daddy, caffeine dries out your vocal chords and I have Glee tonight." Rachel stated simply.

"Oh, of course, silly me." Mark joked. He finished pouring himself a cup and turned to his daughter who was currently pouring soya milk onto her Bran flakes.

"I can't believe you can eat those things, they taste like cardboard." Came the voice of Rachel's dad Daniel, he was black and a lot taller than both Rachel and Mark.

"Dad! They do not taste like cardboard and are a nutritious way to start the day."

"They don't taste very nutritious!" he joked grabbing the coffee pot and a mug to pour himself some coffee. Rachel glared at him before turning her attention to her breakfast. Daniel laughed at his daughter's expression and kissed his husband on the forehead.

"So what are you doing in Glee at the moment?" Daniel said putting an arm around Mark.

"We're rehearsing for sectionals although we still haven't chosen a proper set list. I was going to suggest an 'ode to Streisand' to Mr. Schuester tonight. I printed out enough copies of sheet music for the rest of the club last night and created a power point presentation to show the merits of performing such a set." Rachel stated matter-of-factly before returning to her cereal.

"Oh right, well give the other kids a chance to contribute Rachel sweetie." Daniel said looking knowingly at his husband.

"I've given them a month and no one seems to care enough to have put forward any suggestions other than Finn and 'Don't Stop Believing' however I do not believe that that is what the judges will be looking for. The rest of the club is too busy worrying about their costumes, image or finding new and creative ways to ruin my career."

"What do you mean? Has someone done something again because I swear-" Mark was cut off by his daughter.

"No daddy its fine, Quinn said it was just an accident."

"What was just an accident?" Mark said pulling away from his husband.

"I fell over Quinn's foot and hit my arm against the piano yesterday during practice." Rachel said keeping her eyes firmly focused on her empty bowl.

"Quinn Fabray?" Mark asked sternly. Rachel nodded timidly. "I swear if that girl doesn't leave you alone I will go and have a stern word to her parents!"

"No really daddy, its fine! I'll just look where I'm going next time."

"Rachel, that's the third time this month that girl's done something to you and that's not including the name calling and 'slushies'! I'm going to call up the school!" Mark said putting down his coffee and marching over to the phone.

"No daddy please, it won't make any difference, I'll just try and keep out of her way and avoid Finn." Rachel pleaded; she didn't want to go through with the embarrassment of having to sit with Quinn Fabray in Principal Figgins' office while the girl denied all accusations and got away with a cold and obviously fake apology. Daniel saw his daughter's discomfort and butted in.

"Come on Mark, we'll discuss this later." He pleaded.

"Fine." Mark sighed "But why would avoiding Finn make any difference to Quinn Fabray?" he asked incredulously.

"He's Quinn's boyfriend."

"And what difference would that make? You can be friends with a boy without wanting to date them." Mark stated.

"Yes I know that daddy but Quinn seems to think I have a 'thing' for him and she's extremely protective of him."

"Is she now?" Daniel said with a knowing look at Mark. Rachel looked up at her dad with a raised eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing dear. I best be off anyway, I have a few early appointments scheduled today." Daniel said putting down his empty coffee mug and kissing his husband and daughter in turn before picking up his briefcase and walking from the room. "See you tonight at around 6." He said before shutting the front door.

Rachel grabbed her lunch from the counter before dropping her bowl into the sink and taking a bottle of water from the fridge. She put her lunch into her bag in the hall way and grabbing her car keys.

"I'll see you tonight then dad. Bye!" she called before quickly exiting the house. She didn't want to be quizzed on the actions of Quinn Fabray any more that morning. The girl seemed to be seeping into every aspect of her life, first she forced her to the bottom of the food chain, then she stopped her from befriending Finn, she joined Glee club and made it impossible for her to relax at any point in school and now she was even making her breakfast stressful. She couldn't wait to get the girl out of her life.

Quinn pulled up into the reasonably empty parking lot of William McKinley High School after another quiet and lonely breakfast; she barely saw her parents apart from on Sundays due to their busy work and social calendars that rarely had time for her. She grabbed her red and white Cheerio's duffle bag from the front seat and made her way to the gym for another early Cheerio's practice. She was expected to be early as the head cheerio and so set an example to the rest of the team which she did in every aspect of her life. It was like one big guide on how to live the 'American Dream' or at least be the perfect daughter to the man living this so called dream.

The gym was deserted when Quinn entered it so she flung her bag onto the front bleachers and began to stretch out ready for practice. Santana and Brittany came in just as Quinn was completing her third lap of the gym.

"Hey S, Hey B" Quinn called.

"Man Q, How'd you manage to get up this early and get yourself to move without being yelled out?" Santana yawned, releasing Brittany's hand to put down her bag next to Quinn's. The head Cheerio just laughed at her friend.

"Practice." She said with a smile coming to a stop in front of the other two girls. "Not like I have much else to do in the mornings."

"Uh, try sleeping." Santana suggested with another yawn.

"Quit yawing, you're reminding me how early it is." She joked. Santana shook her head and took Brittany's hand pulling the girl with her to start warming up. "So did you guys get up to much yesterday then?" Quinn asked as they started warming up.

"Santana took me to the park after school." Brittany smiled at the Latina.

"Uh, yeah, you should have come Quinn." Santana blushed slightly under Brittany's gaze.

"I was... busy." Quinn looked at the floor.

"Ugh thanks for the images!" Santana teased with a smirk.

"Shut up S, who said I was doing anything like that." Quinn replied.

"The look on your face, you look guilty as hell! You guys must have got to forth base or something." Santana joked. Quinn's eyes narrowed.

"Shut up." She snapped.

"Geez Q, I was only joking. It's not like it's that big a deal anyway." She raised an eyebrow and Quinn realised she was over-reacting.

"Right, yeah, sorry. Must be tired or something." She said while turning away to face the bleachers as the rest of the Cheerios began to filter into the gym.

Practice was over without any issues and the Cheerios left the gym to go to first period. Quinn put her bag into the locker room and went to get her stuff for first period. She was walking along head down, deep in thought about the coming evening. She had decided that tonight was the night when she'd 'give herself' to Finn. Great she was even beginning to sound like Berry, like she was from the 30's or something. This realisation spurred her on even more and she was now almost sure about doing it. Surely sleeping with Finn would make her forget all about Berry and as Finn had said, they'd been dating for a year, even Santana expected her to have slept with Finn by now. It was normal; it was expected, even if she was the head of the celibacy club. Tonight was the night she'd finally forget Berry and be able to actually live the dream without any regrets.

Just as she had thought this she collided with a small, soft and fast moving object sending her flying forwards. She steadied herself against a nearby locker to stop her from collapsing on the small argyle covered lump that had just landed on the floor. Quinn was about to reach out and offer the now slightly cowering brunette a hand but checked herself just in time to redirect her hand to her hair in an attempt to smooth it out and give her time to put up her cold front. Rachel gave her a weary yet curious look which made Quinn's anger come to the forefront again.

"How many times Rupaul? Watch where you're going!" Quinn yelled venomously before distancing herself from the brunette. She was about to turn and walk away from the scene before she was dragged into saying anything else.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" Rachel snapped back angrily. Quinn turned back around and glared at the diva who was now clearly regretting allowing herself to speak.

"What?" Quinn asked, her eyes so narrow it was surprising she could see through them.

"I...I... nothing, sorry." Rachel stuttered trying desperately to get back onto her feet. Quinn took a stride forward just as the brunette had regained her footing and glared down at her suddenly realising their proximity. She took an involuntarily deep breath and a wave of strawberry and mint swept dangerously through her nostrils clouding her thoughts. As if things couldn't get worse at that moment Quinn's eyes locked onto Rachel's wide, scared eyes and she completely froze up. Quinn's expression changed from menacing to vulnerable and confused in a matter of seconds as she was caught by Berry like a snared rabbit. She couldn't will herself to move and the mask she wore had seemed to slip from her face and was now lying somewhere by her feet.

The bell rang at that moment, plunging Quinn back into reality with excruciating swiftness. She managed to regain her senses in a second and a look that could reduce a room full Sue Sylvester's into a blubbering mess grew over on her face. Rachel instantly recoiled at the look of sheer anger and disgust that had taken over Quinn's face.

"Get out of my way." Quinn spoke and the venom was almost tangible dripping from the words. Rachel instantly moved out of the way of the stewing blonde and she charge off down the hall, the students parted and most pressed their backs right to the lockers in order to avoid her wrath. Rachel stood staring after Quinn in complete and utter fear and shock. What on earth had just happened? She'd never seen the blonde's face look so exposed and open and then so angry. The change and been so quick it was almost impossible and left the brunette wondering if she had imagined the first bit.

The hall way was now empty and Rachel realised she was late for English so quickly rushed off to get to class, her head was a complete mess and it was highly unlikely that she would actually take anything in during the lesson but she had nowhere else to go. She quickly pulled her wheelie bag to class.

Quinn Fabray on the other hand was not only confused but livid. She couldn't think properly. What the hell had happened with man hands? She marched off down the halls in what she later realised was the opposite direction to her class but she just needed to get away from Berry, fast. Things were getting ridiculous now. Berry was her enemy, she was a loser and most importantly _she_ was a girl. How the hell had she had that effect on her? She was Quinn freaking Fabray, HBIC, the queen of McKinley and yet she was being unravelled by Rachel 'Rupaul' Berry.

Quinn burst through the front doors of WMHS and ended up outside of her car. She climbed in and slammed the door before thumping the car into reverse, sending back her tyres into a cloud of smoke and squealing, and sped out of the lot to wherever.

She ended up at her church.

Quinn parked up her car in the huge lot and let her legs carry her into the huge building. She didn't have a clue why she'd ended up here, maybe God sent her there or something. It was a comforting thought to think that God wanted to help her out but at the same time it seemed to confirm that whatever she was feeling for Berry was wrong.

She pushed open one of the wooden doors and entered into the back of the large white, light room. Rows of dark, wooden pews face forward towards a slightly risen platform on which sat a cloth covered table with a large wooden cross placed upon it. Quinn sat in a pew towards the back of the room and began to think about... everything.

She must have been sat down undisturbed for a good hour before her pastor called her name from the front of the room.

"Quinn? Is that you?" A tall, brown haired, middle-aged man was walking towards her with a questioning look on his face. Quinn looked up at him but decided not to speak. "What's up? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Free period." Quinn answered simply.

"Ok then. Well what brings you here then?" He asked tilting his head slightly to the side. Quinn deliberated telling John what she had been thinking but decided against it since she didn't want her parents to find out that she was going to sleep with Finn. She quickly created an excuse and decided to get back to school.

"I have a test next period and I just needed to calm down a bit beforehand." It wasn't a complete lie, she did need to calm down but thankfully she didn't have a test next period. "In fact I should probably be getting back now so, thanks." Quinn said as she got up and left the building leaving a slightly bewildered pastor behind.

Quinn had managed to deflect all the questioning glances Santana had shot at her during the day and made it to the end of the day without seeing Rachel however she was about to be stuck with the brunette for an hour in Glee club but after that she'd be going home with Finn to finally get rid of all thoughts of the diva. The thought didn't seem to make her happy like she thought it would, instead she just felt an over whelming sense of anxiety and guilt. Guilt again as ever. She couldn't wait to get rid of that.

Seeing Finn sitting down talking to Puck she plastered on her best sweet smile and walked over to her boyfriend. She was followed by Rachel's questioning eyes which stirred up even more guilt. When Quinn reached the quarterback she sat in his lap and kissed the boy forcefully, taking him of guard. He spluttered before proceeding to assault her mouth with his slug of a tongue. Quinn pulled away and wiped her mouth trying to hide the repulse that she currently felt as Finn smiled proudly at her and Puck eyed her with a grin, clearly undressing her with his eyes. Quinn smiled at Finn before taking her own chair. She caught a glimpse of Rachel who was still looking at her with confusion and what she thought was... pity.

Pity, how could she possibly be getting pitying looks from the inhabitant of the sub-basement? The familiar burn of anger rose up through her stomach causing the blonde to glare at Rachel before whipping her head round to face Mr. Schuester as he blabbered on about Sectionals and the competition as usual. She'd zoned out in a matter of minutes and thought about what she was going to do tonight. Her parents wouldn't be home until at least 8 so she had plenty of time. Finn would be gone before they got home and they'd be none the wiser. No one else would know about it and she'd be cured of her little 'Berry Problem' and free to go on living her life and maybe even enjoy it. It was a win-win for everyone involved she reasoned.

Mr. Schuester finally let them go after an hour of practicing more random songs and a bit more blabbering. Quinn was surprised to notice that Rachel hadn't really spoken at all throughout the meeting which she was thankful for. She pulled Finn out the door and towards the parking lot.

"Come over to mine tonight, my parent's won't be home for a long time." she cooed to Finn whose face instantly lit up.

"Sure babe. I'll follow you there." He said walking, or rather strutting, over to his car. Quinn rolled her eyes before getting into her car and looked at herself in the rear-view, this was it. She straitened up her hair and tried to still her heart, her palms were sweaty and she could feel her stomach drop slightly with the tension. Finn's car appeared in her rear-view and she stepped down on the gas with one last look at the school. The glance was almost wistful as though this would be the last time she would see it or at least see it this way. Berry stepped through the door just as Quinn drove past and gave her what looked like a smile. The blonde looked away, pretending not to see her as she drove out of the gates settling into the fear that was now permeating steadily through her body.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, here's another chapter and I'm very sorry but it has to be done for this whole thing to work...**

The Fabray house was deserted when Quinn pulled up. Finn pulled up behind her and got out of his car quickly to join her by the door. Quinn slid the key into the lock and turned it slowly hearing every individual click of the bolts for the first time. It was as though time was freezing up on her, slowing down and drawing out the agony that she didn't even realise she was feeling until now. This just didn't feel right at all.

The door swung open seamlessly just like always to reveal an immaculate and yet empty feeling hall way. Quinn dumped her bag unceremoniously onto the floor followed by her shoes before walking towards the living room. Finn followed suit and they were soon making out on the couch. After about 5 minutes Quinn was seriously questioning her decision to do this. No she needed to; it'd be fine after she did this, after she slept with Finn. She pushed Finn away; they couldn't do it on her couch that would just be weird when her parents came home.

"Uh, maybe we should go upstairs or..." Quinn trailed off looking everywhere but Finn. The boy smiled eagerly before shifting from on top of Quinn and heading towards the stairs. Quinn didn't move.

"You coming babe?" he asked from the foot of the stairs.

"Um, yeah, I just need some... a glass of water. I'll be up in a bit." Quinn said still not looking at Finn who was now running up the stairs. She heard he fumble about upstairs and heard a thud followed by what sounded like a yelp. Usually Quinn would have rolled her eyes at this but she was too engrossed in trying to push back the sensation of apprehension that had been weighing in her stomach for much of the day however the feeling only seemed to be growing since she walked through the front door about 10 minutes earlier. This wasn't right at all but it needed to be done she told herself.

Quinn stood up from the couch and looked around the room before letting out a gust of air, setting her shoulders and marching up the stairs.

Finn was sat awkwardly on her bed, spinning his wallet around in his overly large hands.

"What you got in there?" Quinn asked trying to distract herself. Finn went slightly red and began mumbling incoherently and Quinn caught on. "Oh, right, yeah. You carry one around?"

"I... well you know, better safe than sorry..." he said mustering up a small, nervous smirk. This was unbelievably awkward, was everyone's first time meant to be like this? So... unnatural.

"Right... well, shall we." Quinn started to hastily tug off her shirt and Finn lightened up, pulling his socks and shirt off in double speed. It was as though been practicing or something. The young couple ended up stood on opposite sides of the bed in just their underwear, a bulge already apparent in Finn's. The sight made Quinn feel slightly sick, she was beginning to have second thoughts even more than before but before she could think about it anymore Finn was coming at her from across the bed, eyes trained hungrily on her body, she pulled her arms across her chest instinctively. Finn didn't seem to notice and began sliding his hands around her hips pulling her into him. He began kissing her neck while running his huge hands over her back and down to her thighs. His hands eventually found her bra strap and began awkwardly fumbling with it. After a long struggle Finn finally managed to unhook it and the garment fell slowly to the floor. The quarterback began to attack her breast with childish excitement and Quinn closed her eyes, trying to give herself over to the feeling but it was just uncomfortable and not nearly as enjoyable as she thought it should be.

Twenty minutes later and Finn was scrambling around putting on his clothes, a large smile etched onto his face, he was positively glowing much to the contrast of Quinn who just felt hollow and exposed, lying on her bed blinking back tears. It was so disappointing, not earth shattering like she thought it was meant to be. The earth didn't stop turning and the world had managed to get by for those 20 minutes. Finn kissed her tenderly on the lips before saying his goodbyes and leaving Quinn lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling, a sheet roughly covering her.

She lay there for what seemed like hours just feeling numb, not wanting to acknowledge any of the emotions her mind was trying to push on her. The sun was beginning to melt away into the reddening clouds as she heard a car pull up onto the drive. She decided to go shower so she could go down to dinner with her parents.

Quinn made her bed and tidied up her clothes before climbing into the shower. The water rushed over her body as she got to cleaning herself up. That was definitely not the mind-blowing, heart stopping, eye opening experience she had been wishing for. If anything it was painful and awkward and ultimately; disappointing. The blonde sighed and turned off the shower, reaching for her towel and stepping out onto the cream bath matt laid before the shower.

Maybe it just wasn't meant to be, her and Finn. This could have been God's way of telling her that she needed a new man, why God would concern himself with the matter was beside the point. That might've been the reason why she was thinking about Berry; Finn wasn't the right one for her, wasn't who she was meant to be with. The thought offered some comfort and helped Quinn to push any thoughts of Rachel from her brain before she got dressed and headed down to greet her parents.

Quinn was greeted by the site of her mother slaving over a large pot simmering on the stove with a crystal cut glass in hand. Quinn would've rolled her eyes at the sight if she didn't feel so nervous about her parents somehow finding out about her evenings activities. "Hey mum. When's dad coming back?" she asked, trying to be as laid-back as possible while retrieving some cutlery from a draw behind her mother.

"He should be back in a few minutes. Can you get a glass from the cupboard while you're there?" Judy Fabray spoke without looking at her daughter.

"Sure." Quinn said breathing a sigh of relief, her mother seemed oblivious so far however that might just be because of the half empty glass she was clutching onto. She pulled out a glass from the cupboard next to her head and set it down on the counter below before walking into the dining room to set the table. She looked around the room after she'd finished setting her father's place at the head of the table. It didn't look any different to how it always had; a large and highly varnished walnut table was situated in the centre of a cream coloured room, a matching sideboard lined the wall furthest from the kitchen and a pretentiously large crystal chandelier hung over the centre of the table. Quinn sighed, she wanted it to change, she had almost expected it change after sleeping with Finn. What was this big thing about sex? So far it really wasn't living up to the hype. The only difference Quinn noted in herself was the overwhelming sense of guilt and regret that seemed to be weighing down on her, pushing the ceiling in towards her head and suffocating her.

Just as Quinn felt that she should bolt from the room and try and find some air her dad entered the room and smiled broadly at his daughter sweeping her into his arms. "How's my girl?" he asked while squeezing her. The sense of being crushed by guilt seemed to increase tenfold as her dad hugged her. She didn't feel like 'his girl' anymore. There was the other change, the one no one talked about, favouring the feelings of excitement and sense of maturity, it was the loss of innocence. Quinn was hit with another wave of remorse which was quickly boxed away and thrown to the back of her mind. Being a Fabray did have its advantages and the emotional detachment was one of them at this moment.

Russell let go of his daughter and patted her on the head before going into the kitchen, greeting his wife and no doubt taking a long, lingering swig from the glass she'd fetched only minutes earlier. They'd be drunk by the time Quinn went upstairs to bed like most nights.

Dinner seemed to drag on for hours that night. Quinn tried to keep her head down and only spoke when spoken to like most nights. Her parents were content to oblige her wish to not be included in the conversation as they talked about work and gossiped about any 'scandals' that had taken place over the course of the week. Her parents had strayed onto the topic of the Berry's during the course of the meal much to Quinn's disappointment. Her father seemed to disapprove if they so much breathed too loud in Lima, claiming they were trying to convert people to their 'abominable' lifestyle. When Russell Fabray had found out that one of Rachel's fathers was a GP at the local doctor's surgery he nearly passed out from rage. Quinn hadn't been listening hard enough to make out why her dad was complaining this time but when he uttered the word "fag" she had snapped back into reality.

"I swear, if those fags step even a toe out of line I'll have them driven out of this town faster than you can say 'abomination'." Her dad said swallowing a piece of pork chop. He was becoming slightly red in the face with the force of his anger. Quinn really couldn't see why he got so worked up about the Berry's; their lives had little effect on upon her father and yet he seemed to loathe them above everything else. She could never ask her dad for fear of insulting him or seeming like she was on their 'side' as Russell called it. "It's like that time when they had us called into school when they thought that _our_ daughter was picking on their unfortunate spawn. Despicable. They shouldn't have bought her into the world; of course she's picked on. Daughter of two 'fathers'. It's an outrage! What was her name again Quinn?" Quinn gave a small cough to clear her throat.

"Rachel" she said, staring down at her plate, she couldn't believe she used to agree with her father, his credibility was decreasing very quickly.

"Yes... Rachel _Berry_." He practically spat the last word out as though it tasted bitter on his tongue. "You keep away from her Quinn" Russell said, staring straight at her. The stare seemed to burn into her face.

"Of course daddy" she hadn't told her dad about joining Glee club for this exact reason. It was common knowledge that Rachel Berry was the star of the Glee club, the only one with enough talent to get them out of the insignificant town of Lima.

"Good. Are you still dating that Finn boy?" Russell asked after taking another bite of dinner. Quinn nearly choked on the mouthful she was eating.

"Quinnie?" Judy asked with a surprising amount of concern. Quinn gave another cough and looked up.

"Uh, sorry, put too much in..." she said banging a fist into her chest to clear everything up. "Yes, I am still with Finn." Russell raised an eyebrow.

"You should bring him home for dinner one day soon. I'd like to meet this boy, lay down some ground rules." He said with an almost comical sense of self-importance. Quinn tried to hide her blush as another wave of guilt racked her body. The feeling was becoming all too frequent.

Dinner soon ended and Quinn promptly said goodnight to her parents after helping clear up. She changed for bed and lay above the covers staring at the ceiling again. She decided to start on doing some reading for English however her head was too chaotic to concentrate on taking in 'The Great Gatsby' and after staring at the same page, re-reading the same line for 40 minutes she gave up and got into bed, turning out the light and trying to let sleep take her. Thoughts of Finn, sex and Rachel all interwove in her head creating disgusting and unnervingly appealing scenarios.

She final fell into a light sleep at around 4 am.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, feedback is really appreciated. Here's another chapter and I'm sorry it had to happen again... I'm not too sure about the last part but I hope you enjoy it none the less.**

It was a Friday night a few weeks into the term and Quinn was at the Puckerman residence for another one of Puck's 'Wild Parties'. Most of the jocks and Cheerios were at the party and even a few of the Glee kids had been invited although Rachel had missed out on an invite and Quinn couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. Ever since sleeping with Finn she'd become distant to him, only spending time with him in school and even then it was minimal. They hadn't had a repeat performance and it was clear that Finn was getting bored. He'd stopped pressing Quinn after two weeks of excuses and went to shamelessly flirting with other cheerleaders; he'd even started spending more time with Rachel which angered Quinn no end. She didn't want to admit it but she was jealous, not of Rachel but of Finn, of the fact that he could talk to her and she couldn't.

The events of the past three weeks now meant that she was stood, leaning against a wall in Puck's small living room, alone, staring at the mass of people moving as one in the centre of the crowded room to the heavy beat of some dance tune Quinn had never heard before. To say she was having a bad day would be a major understatement. She was having a bad month and to top it all off she had also slipped in Cheerio's practice and nearly fell from the top of a three storey human tower. Sue had had strong words after that. It was clear her position at the top was precarious, she felt like she was hanging by her finger tips to the top of the social pyramid and Finn wasn't there to keep her steady anymore.

She sighed and put her head back against the wall, closing her eyes to the sight of Finn grinding against some brunette cheerleader. A cold glass bottle was pressed into her hand and the blonde looked up to see Puck grinning at her.

"Looks like you could use a drink." He said with a smirk.

"I don't drink." Quinn said through her teeth, she didn't need anyone pitying her, the day was already crap. Puck's cocky demeanour didn't slip as Quinn attempted to push the Wine Cooler back into his hands.

"Sure you don't." He smirked again and grabbed Quinn's wrist pulling her towards the mass of other party goers.

"Puck! I don't want to dance with you!" Quinn said; her anger increasing.

"You don't have anyone else to dance with." He said looking pointedly at Finn who was now sandwiched in between two girls. Quinn followed the jocks gaze and clenched her fist. Finn was trying to make a fool out of her. She took a gulp of her wine cooler. Puck's smirk grew and he pulled Quinn into his body and began dancing against her. Quinn downed the rest of her drink and began moving with Puck.

"I need another drink." Quinn stated with disinterest after another two songs had finished playing.

"Sure babe, follow me." Puck said, pulling the blonde cheerleader out of the lounge and into his equally crowded kitchen. He pulled another beer and a wine cooler from the fridge and opened them both, handing Quinn the drink. She'd never drunk that much alcohol before, just a glass of wine with dinner occasionally and she was already beginning to feel the dull numbing ache make an appearance in her head. She didn't care though, she needed to escape her life for a few hours and that's apparently what happened when you got drunk.

They wandered back into the lounge and started dancing again. Puck was getting more confident but Quinn just didn't care. She needed to spite Finn and forget Berry. It was a win-win for everyone, just like last time. Quinn didn't want to think of what a failure 'last time' turned out to be and just kept dancing and drinking.

She couldn't remember when or how she'd got up the stairs and into Puck's bedroom but she thought it was sometime around the time that she'd seen Finn making out with the brunette cheerleader from earlier. In fact she couldn't actually remember much after her fifth drink apart from seeing Finn and the other girl, walking or stumbling up the stairs and hearing Puck utter the words "beautiful" and "trust me" and then the familiar feeling of guilt settling like a rock in her stomach once more.

Quinn woke up in an unfamiliar room that smelt of a mix of sweat and beer; she wrinkled her nose at the smell. She then realised that she wasn't alone in the bed and that with the ache was beginning to make itself known all over her body confirmed her fears.

She'd done it again.

"Shit!" she breathed. The person next to her stirred slightly and Quinn looked over and recognized the Mohawked head of Puck beside her. "Fuck!" she said a bit louder, shooting upright and attempting to get out of the bed. Her stomach seemed to lurch forward and it felt as though someone had just dropped a rock on her head. "What the hell?" she whispered before clamping a hand over her mouth and diving forward, pushing her face into a small bin before retching and releasing the contents of her stomach. After her stomach was suitably empty she slowly stood back up and ran her hands through her knotted hair, realising she was naked at about the same time.

The blonde gave another frustrated sigh and went about trying to retrieve her clothes from the room, battling the urge to get back into bed and sleep until the headache went away. She needed to get out of the room quickly and avoid having to talk with Puck who was still sound asleep. She finished tugging on her clothes and left the room. The landing was littered with bottles, random food wrappers, silly string and bodies and it took Quinn 2 minutes to walk 5 metres avoiding standing on anyone or anything. The stairs were equally precarious however she was out the house in 5 minutes and it seemed she was one of the first people to leave. She checked her phone, it was 11 o'clock.

Quinn pocketed the phone and began walking to the side walk shortly before realising that she had no way home other than walking, she'd arrived with Finn and there was no way she was going back in there to find him. She began to walk in the direction of her house before she remembered it was Saturday. She was meant to be at Cheerio's practice.

"Oh Fuck!" Quinn yelled before breaking into a run. Practice started at half ten, she'd already missed half an hour and it'd take at least another half hour to get ready to go providing she could find her way back home. Her head seemed to be imploding on itself; she felt like she could throw up at any second and she was missing cheerio's practice. She tripped over a crack in the pavement and fell to her knees, tearing the dress she was wearing. "Argh!" Things seriously couldn't get any worse.

She gritted her teeth and got back up to her feet. She was Quinn Fucking Fabray, Queen of McKinley and Head Bitch In Charge she had to pull it together. She defiantly swallowed the tears that were trying to force their way out of her eyes and began running home again. She needed some coffee, a paracetamol and a shower and then she'd be at Cheerio's practice with some excuse to do with church or something.

She pulled up at the school 30 minutes later to find the parking lot empty except for one car. Quinn arched an eyebrow and climbed out of her car, grabbing the red and white duffle bag as she went. She walked into the empty school building and into the gym. It was deserted. Quinn looked at the huge clock in the far corner of the room, it was 11.45, practice didn't finish for at least another hour and a quarter and that was if Ms. Sylvester was feeling nice. Quinn glanced around with her patent raised eyebrow thinking back to last practice.

She dropped her duffle bag and clenched her fists. Practice was cancelled this weekend, that's why so many Cheerios were still lying passed out on the floor at Puck's house. "Damn it!" Quinn picked up her bag and made her way back into the deserted halls. She was really losing it.

The blonde roamed the corridors; she didn't want to go home and face her parents again or explain why she wasn't home last night that was if they even noticed. She found herself stood outside the auditorium doors. It was completely silent so she made her way in, setting her bag down on the front row she climbed up onto the stage and sat behind the piano that was set off to the side. She was concealed from the rest of the large room by the curtains at the wings of the stage. It was good to be alone in the school; she didn't have to keep up her guard like usual.

Her slender fingers began to move across the keys to some unknown tune. She'd taken lessons since she was eight and by now was grade 7 piano. The action was so natural she closed her eyes to the feeling, forgetting all the events of the past month and just focusing on the notes she was playing.

"Quinn? I didn't know you played piano?" Quinn's eyes shot open and she whirled around to she Rachel looking at her with an expression of confusion and awe. She blushed under the gaze and tried to look away.

"Rachel what are you..." she'd said her name, damn it. Time alone had made her soft, especially if that time was spent at the piano. She pulled her hand through her hair and looked around awkwardly as Rachel gave her a dazzling smile. "What are you doing here?" she finished eventually.

"I came to practice but realised I'd left some sheet music in the choir room so I went to go and fetch it and when I returned I heard someone, who now it turns out was you, playing the piano so I stayed to listen. You're really good Quinn." She gave her another dazzling smile.

"Thanks." The girl mumbled before looking back down at the piano. What was she doing? She was meant to hate Berry, not call her names and take complements from her. She tried to pull up her walls but they didn't seem to want to go up. The silence began to drag on and it was clear the diva was content to stare at her in silence. Quinn gave a small, nervous cough. "Do you always practice here on Saturdays?" she asked without looking up from the piano.

"Well, ever since the start of this year. My neighbours threatened a law suit as they said that my singing was becoming annoying but how am I supposed to become a star if I don't practice enough? And it was a complete over-reaction, I do not sing loud enough to wake the dead, I was merely practicing voice projection techniques which are vital to anyone wishing to get on the stage and actually be heard by the members of the audience." Rachel said indignantly, Quinn merely laughed at her speech however the brunette decided to ignore this. "What, may I ask, brings you to the auditorium on a Saturday dressed in your cheerleading uniform?"

Quinn looked down at herself in almost surprise, she'd nearly forgotten about the events of this morning and last night. She kept her gaze trained down on the keys in front of her. "It's been a long morning" was all she could say. It summed up her day and month perfectly, it had been a long struggle and it didn't seem to be looking up.

"I see. Well, I need to practice and it seems that Brad has actually left the building for once." Rachel emphasized the statement by looking around the stage which made Quinn smile despite herself. "Quinn, would you play for me?"

The question caught her off guard; she'd never played for anyone in Glee club before, well never really for anyone so the thought of accompanying someone was a little daunting. "I don't know Rachel, I'm not that great." The diva beamed at her again, she'd never seen such a bright smile, especially not from someone she'd just said "no" to. "What's with the grin? You look like the Cheshire Cat." She stated with her patent raised eyebrow.

"You're calling me Rachel." Quinn blushed at the acknowledgement.

"I guess I am..." The brunette's smile seemed to be actually splitting her face; it was slightly unnerving to be honest. All she'd said was her name.

"You're really good at piano Quinn." She said, the smile not decreasing in size.

"Thanks, again." Quinn looked away again in embarrassment. What was going on? She was meant to be HBIC, why couldn't see keep a straight face in front of Rachel Berry of all people and more importantly, why did she find herself unable to care. She really was losing her touch. Berry really wasn't that bad on her own and she really didn't have anything else to lose, she'd already lost Finn and her grip on the top was beginning to slip.

"Please will you play for me? It's not exactly a hard song and I won't mind if you mess up. No one's around to hear you." Rachel pleaded again.

"Um, sure, ok, what are you singing?"

"I was trying to perfect that assignment Mr. Schue gave us this week." Quinn looked at her blankly, she hadn't been paying attention in glee much recently and Mr. Schue never asked her to perform, in fact he seemed slightly scared by the blonde head Cheerio. Rachel cocked her head to the side. "The assignment about what we're thankful for." Quinn raised her eyebrows. Of course it would be something like that; Mr. Schuester was always trying to boost their self-esteem with some sort of life lesson through song.

"Right, and what are you singing?" It seemed slightly ironic that Quinn was now helping Rachel Berry with a glee assignment to do with things that she was thankful for after she'd spent the past year and a bit making her life hell.

"I'm singing thank you by Dido."

"Makes sense I guess. Who are you thanking?" Quinn inquired.

"My dads, they're always there for me at the end of the day when no one else is." Rachel said, the smile disappearing from her face as she looked down to the floor. Quinn closed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair. The silence stretched on growing increasingly tense, it was obvious she should try and apologise but one wasn't forthcoming, a downside of the Fabray genes. She was too proud to apologise no matter how much she wanted to. Quinn opened her mouth only to close it again. She sighed.

"Have you got the music?" she asked finally looking up at Rachel who reached forward to hand Quinn the music. "Thanks." Quinn said placing it on the stand on the piano, she looked over the notes. They seemed easy enough although she'd never really listened to the song before. Rachel walked out onto the stage and glanced over at Quinn.

"Ok?"

"Yeah, Ok then, sorry if I mess it up." She said before beginning to play the intro. Rachel took in a deep breath and began to sing the first verse. A smile began to grow on Quinn's face; she'd never really appreciated the diva's voice properly until now and it really was incredible. She seemed to convey her emotions with a brutal honesty that Quinn had never recognized before.

Rachel looked over to the blonde at the piano who was smiling to herself as she concentrated on the music before her. The brunette walked over to the piano, smiling to herself as she continued to sing. Quinn kept staring at the music unaware of Rachel's new position. The song began to draw to close and Quinn looked up to see Rachel gazing straight at her, her eyes locked onto the deep brown, glistening eyes before her. Her breath caught and she hit a wrong key, she began to blush and look back down at the keys trying desperately to carry on. The music seemed to blur over the stave and she made another mistake. "Argh!" she cried before after the song finally drew to a close and she ran out of music. "Sorry" she said without looking up.

"It was great." Rachel said with a grin.

"No it wasn't, well, you were but I messed up the ending."

"No, it was great." Rachel stated matter-of-factly. Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Well, I should probably go. My parents might remember they have a daughter and wonder why I wasn't home last night." Rachel quirked an eyebrow. "I was at Puck's party." Quinn answered the silent question. Rachel's face instantly fell, great; she'd managed to say something to upset her again today. Not that she hadn't done things to upset her in the past but it was different now, she couldn't hide the fact that she cared under all her irrational anger today, she didn't have any. "Trust me, you didn't miss much Berry." Quinn said with a sigh, trying to convince herself more than Rachel. In actual fact she had missed Quinn fucking up again but it wasn't like she was going to broadcast that fact any time soon, in fact she was planning on forgetting it or at least burying it under everything else.

"I was busy anyway, Friday night is movie night." Rachel said trying to pass off as cool an air as possible. Quinn raised an eyebrow but decided to just nod in acceptance.

"Well anyway, see you around Berry." Quinn said getting up from the piano stool and making her way towards the steps of the stage.

"Thanks for playing for me." The brunette called after her. Quinn turned around and smiled softly at her.

"Don't mention it" she said before exiting the stage and the auditorium. The diva hadn't annoyed her at all even though she'd spent time alone with her. She really couldn't see what the whole school had against her, she was just like any other high school kid, she just had more drive and determination than the rest of the Lima losers. Quinn smiled at the thought, Berry would make something of herself, and she wouldn't let anything that anyone said or did to her hold her back from her dreams. It was comforting to know for a reason that Quinn couldn't exactly pinpoint. Maybe it would spite her father or maybe it helped to absolve some of the guilt that still weighed in her stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

An alarm blared next to a blond head shortly after sunrise. Dim light began to filter into Quinn's room as she wearily fumbled in the half light to silence her alarm. 6am on a Monday morning, how she loved being in the Cheerios. The blonde rolled out of the comfortable embrace of her quilt and sat on the edge of her bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes before slowly standing up and walking blindly towards the bathroom. She took a quick shower and dressed in her Cheerio uniform before grabbing a banana and her car keys and leaving the house to the sounds of her parents stirring at 6.30am. She was in the gym, jogging around the basketball court by 6.45am and then stretching out as the other cheerleaders arrived, bleary eyed and still not properly awake at 7am. Brittany and Santana walked in with the rest of the squad, looking as weary as the others.

Coach Sylvester walked in and set them to doing more warm-ups before having them run through their routine for Nationals an un-healthy number of times. Practice ended at 8.30 and after freshening up and putting her kit away in the locker room Quinn walked to class with Brittany and Santana.

"We didn't see you on Saturday after the party, where'd you go Q?" Santana asked as they exited the changing rooms, Quinn paled as the suppressed memories of Friday night flooded back into her head. She'd done such a good job of blocking out the memories of that recent mistake; they were safely stored in the locked chest at the back of her mind with everything else she didn't want to deal with.

"I... had stuff to do that day." She said unconvincingly. Santana raised an eyebrow but decided it best not to press the issue.

"Cool." She said as they entered the History room and took their usual seats at the back of the class; Brittany and Santana took one desk and Quinn sat alone on the one next to them as always. The class slowly filled up, the jocks taking the seats at the opposite corner to the cheerleaders, the nerds at the front and all the rest somewhere in the middle. Quinn never paid much attention to the groups, it was just what happened at High School, everyone had their place and they were content to be penned in, it was safe, it was normal.

Everyone was content except, of course, for Rachel Berry who was trying to break from the heard; making her way towards Quinn's desk. Quinn was unaware of the diva's brave yet stupid move as she stared aimlessly out of the window at the far side of the classroom. Santana was shooting a death glare at the bold brunette and Brittany was staring curiously at her with a slight smile on her face.

"Quinn?" The blonde was awoken from her day dreaming by a small voice. She snapped her head round to see Rachel looking timidly at her, an eyebrow rose automatically as she tried to reorganise her thoughts into something coherent to try and work out why the brunette was standing by her desk.

"Yes?" she asked with less coldness than she had wanted.

"Is that seat taken?" her other eyebrow rose to join its partner. The seat wasn't taken, that was obvious to anyone in the class but that didn't mean it was available. Quinn could see Santana's glare from the corner of her eye, she had to give Berry some credit for having the guts to ask but it could never happen. Quinn opened her mouth with a bullet of an insult ready to be fired full force at the diva but the trigger seemed to be stuck so she just sat with a partially opened mouth, staring at the diva with furrowed, questioning eyebrows. She couldn't say yes, because the seat wasn't taken but she couldn't say no because her image would take a serious pummelling. Why had Berry put her in this position?

"No" she said without knowing it. Santana's mouth dropped open as Quinn shot her hand up to her mouth as if she could force the words back in. Even Rachel seemed surprised by Quinn's acceptance however she didn't see Quinn's hand move to catch her words. Brittany was the only one who was instantly happy with Quinn's reply.

"Ok" Rachel said hesitantly as she sat down beside Quinn who had now gone into a slight state of shock and was unable to think properly, it was a wonder that Rachel hadn't just run away from her instead of lingering in the tension filled corner, she would have ran. The rest of the class were sat in stunned silence as Rachel took her seat and even the teacher looked slightly bemused as he walked in and began the lesson.

After a half hour lecture on something to do with the Great Depression, Quinn wasn't really concentrating on the teachers words but trying to ignore the questioning glances being shot at her from all angles, the teacher set the group to do some questions from the textbook. Rachel turned to the page as Quinn continued to stare self-consciously at her blank notebook. Rachel looked worriedly over at Quinn several times before speaking.

"Quinn? Did you get the page number? It was 111, questions 1 to 5..." she trailed off when Quinn didn't move. "Is something wrong?" she whispered. Quinn slowly turned her head, careful to avoid her eyes. The teacher had left the room and the class had broken into chatter almost instantly meaning that their conversation couldn't be heard.

"Why are you sat here?" she asked, straining her voice. Rachel's eyebrows rose.

"I thought you said the seat was free." She replied.

"It's always free, that doesn't mean it's available." Quinn stated as though it was obvious, which it was, to everyone else in the room, heck, in the whole school. Why couldn't Berry leave her alone? Why did she want to be friends so much? She should just give up like everyone else had; it would be easier for everyone involved.

Rachel couldn't think of a way to reply to Quinn's statement, once again she was short of words around the blonde. Eventually she caught Quinn's eye and watched as her eyes darted away nervously again instantly, she was acting very strangely at the moment, like that time in the hallway a month ago or just on Saturday when she had managed to spend time with her without calling her a degrading and humiliating name. Her mood swings were disconcerting to say the least.

"Is something wrong?" she asked again with more concern. Quinn turned back to her notebook and gripped her pen firmly turning to page 111 and writing the title of the page.

"Nothing's wrong, I just don't want you sat here." She said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, why did you say I could then?" Rachel asked simply. Quinn turned to face her with an angry look that quickly disintegrated.

"I couldn't say no, could I?" Quinn said, sounding uncertain in herself, as though she was asking Rachel to tell her if she'd done the right thing, if she could have humiliated her without thinking about it, if that was acceptable. Rachel turned back to face her paper.

"It was what I was expecting." She replied sadly. Quinn's stomach seemed to drop with guilt once again, she didn't want to hurt the girl anymore; it was starting to grate on her, starting to actually become a weight on her conscience. She looked sadly at Rachel before turning back to her notepad and the questions awaiting answers.

"I know." She stated forlornly before starting her answers. The rest of the class was spent in silence and when the bell rang Rachel was up and out of the room before anyone else. Quinn watched her leave; the guilt was still obvious in her stomach.

"What the hell Q? Why did you let Treasure Trail sit next to you? Do you want people to think you and the freak are friends?" Santana spat, awakening Quinn from her musings as they left the classroom.

"I couldn't say no, not when she'd asked me." Santana's eyebrows rose almost up to her hair.

"Of course you could! It's not like Manhands has any feelings!" she shot back; Quinn instantly cast her eyes down in shame. Rachel really didn't deserve any of what she got, sure she could be annoying and speak too much and her fashion sense left a lot to be desired but she was so accepting and kind to people even when they'd been treating her wrong for so long. The guilt wouldn't leave her because she deserved it, she deserved to feel bad for hurting Rachel because Rachel had never done anything to hurt her.

"Don't call her that." Quinn said quietly, her usual cold, angry demeanour had disappeared and was replaced with remorse which shocked Santana.

"You made the name up Q!" she said angrily.

"I know and I'm telling you to stop using it!" Quinn snapped back without thinking. She was getting weird urges to defend Berry. Santana looked even more shocked and slightly mad but just as she was about lash out at Quinn, Brittany came in.

"I like Rachel, she's nice." The blonde said dreamily. Quinn and Santana turned to look at the girl who was smiling at the Latina. Santana softened and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't want a confrontation with the other girl.

"Whatever, I'll see you at lunch." Santana said before linking pinkies with Brittany and walking towards their next class. Quinn sucked in a short breath and went the opposite way towards the Spanish room and her so called boyfriend Finn, she could just skip, avoid seeing him and feeling even more guilt.

No, she'd have to face him at some point anyway, best to just get it out the way. She walked into the class to see Finn at next to Puck, they were laughing with each other at a 'Kick Me' sign they'd just stuck on the back of one of the nerds sitting in front of them. Quinn rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe she'd slept with either of them, it reflected badly on her taste. Finn turned and smiled at her and she instantly felt the guilt again at Finn's innocent expression. She was still mad at him for humiliating her at the party but her anger was dulled by the sense of guilt that she felt at betraying him fully. She glanced away from the happy smiles of Finn and saw Puck with his eyes downcast on the table; his laughter was a ghost on his face. So he felt guilty as well even though it was his fault, or so Quinn told herself, she shouldn't have let herself get jealous in the first place, of course Finn was annoyed with her, and she'd been treating him with contempt for a month. She smiled weakly at Finn before taking a seat at the back of the room, Finn jumped up from the desk he was sat on and came to sit with her.

"Hey babe." He said happily, kissing her cheek quickly.

"Hi" Quinn said back without looking at him, the boy continued on oblivious.

"I didn't see you after the party on Friday, I called but you didn't pick up." Finn stated, pulling out his books. "How'd you get home?"

"I walked." Quinn said quietly.

"Oh, you must have left early, I didn't see you." Finn replied cheerfully.

"Yeah, I had to... do something, sorry." She said looking over to Puck who was giving her a nervous look. She scowled at the boy and turned to face the front where Mr. Schuester was preparing to start the lesson.

"Ok then, maybe we can do something this weekend or something." He suggested looking at Quinn.

"Um, maybe, yeah." Quinn said without looking at him, instead she concentrated on writing the date on her paper. She didn't feel as guilty as she thought she would with seeing the boy. She was angry at Puck but she wasn't as sorry as she should be. Finn was a good guy and she'd cheated on him with his best friend while she was drunk, she should be begging for forgiveness or at least trying to make it up to her boyfriend but instead she felt nothing apart from guilt at her loss of innocence. Great, now she was wishing for guilt as if she didn't have enough to deal with.

"Cool" Finn said eagerly as Mr. Schue began the lesson.

The hour was torturous to put it nicely. Finn kept trying to start simple conversation but Quinn just couldn't reply to keep him happy, she just didn't care about him anymore and the fact didn't surprise her in the least. He was a nice guy, he'd do anything for her but that just wasn't enough, the only thing that kept them together was social status and even that seemed to be losing its appeal. A combination of her parent's hollow life, rigorous Cheerios practice and dieting and the mostly superficial relationships she had with people were suddenly looking and feeling unattractive and unsatisfying. She wanted something real, something fun and worthwhile; she didn't want to turn into her mother, bossed around by some overbearing, shallow man, not that Finn was either of those things. He just wasn't real like so much of her life as she'd come to realise, she should get a chance at having something real and so should he even if that something would be Rachel.

The bell rang and they exited the room quickly. Finn was talking about something to do with football as they entered the crowded halls full of students going to their next lessons. Quinn closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to Finn.

"Finn." She said sternly, stopping the boy's ramblings. "We need to talk." His face fell slightly before taking on a puzzled look.

"We are talking." He said furrowing his eyebrows. Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Not about football, meet me outside at lunch." She said firmly, more for her own resolve than a need to berate Finn's ignorance. The boy's eyebrows furrowed still further.

"Um, ok, is something wrong?" he asked with concern that should have had the effect of soothing Quinn but just increased her determination as she felt nothing yet again.

"No, we just need to talk. See you at lunch." She said before turning and walking towards her next lesson leaving Finn stood looking dumbly at her retreating form. This was it now, the beginning of her new, genuine, life.

**A/N: Ok well I'm obviously not really following the show at all so I'm not sure whether or not to make Quinn pregnant or not, what do you guys want to see? A pregnant Quinn or a Quinn who's learnt her lesson? I'll leave it up to you. Please Review guys, you're feedback really helps with motivation to write.**


	6. Chapter 6

Quinn was leaning against the wall just outside the main entrance to McKinley, waiting for Finn to come outside. She'd spent the last period in relative ease, she wasn't nervous or apprehensive about this; it was what she wanted. Finn stepped out the door and looked around before spotting Quinn and smiling hesitantly.

"Hey babe" he greeted.

"Hi" Quinn said with a surprisingly large smile. She was sure people weren't meant to feel this sort of relief before breaking up with their long term boyfriend.

"What did you wanna talk about?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Finn... I think we should break up." Quinn said hesitantly. The quarterback's face instantly fell, Quinn felt a small pang of guilt but knew she was doing the right thing, she decided she should probably explain herself. "I don't love you Finn and I don't want to string you along anymore."

"What do you mean; anymore?" He asked in confusion. Finn thought she'd loved him. What if he loved her? Quinn's heart quickly sank; this made matters a little harder.

"I mean... I don't love you Finn. I should have ended it sooner. I'm sorry." She said feeling sorry for the boy, she'd thought he didn't really care about her that much, it certainly seemed that way at the party. Finn looked slightly lost to say the least. His face was considerably paler than usual and he looked even more bemused.

"I... Why did you let me...?" He trailed off. Quinn felt even more guilt at the fact that she'd used him so much; first as a means to cement her place at the top and then to clear her head, so to speak.

"I don't know... I thought if we... did it, then I'd love you. Or something like that." It was the truth. Finn's face fell even more.

"Oh, ok then." Finn was staring at the ground in front of his huge feet. Quinn reached out and took his hand forcing him to look up into her eyes.

"I really am sorry Finn." She said earnestly, she was sorry for everything she'd done, sleeping with Puck, using him and shaping him into something he wasn't. She squeezed his hand before letting it drop to his side as she walked back into the building. Finn stood looking sadly after his now ex-girlfriend, he thought things were going well.

Quinn walked away, she didn't know where to only that she wouldn't go to the cafeteria, she didn't want to have to put back on her HBIC cold front and pretend anymore but she wasn't ready to start being herself in front of all the Cheerios just yet. She wandered to her locker and retrieved her small lunch before walking to the choir room to eat.

The room was empty when she entered which made her slightly disappointed though she didn't want to admit it. She sat down on one of the chairs on the small bleachers at the back of the room and opened the paper bag in her hands. The bag was practically empty, she had a small box of grapes and a low sugar, low fat granola bar and of course a bottle of water. She opened the granary bar and began to eat it; the Cheerios diet was probably the worst thing about being on the team. They ate less than a small mammal and yet exercised more than anyone else in the school; she was surprised more people didn't collapse during practice; it was probably the fear of being off the squad for showing weakness.

She had just taken another bite of her cardboard lunch when the door opened and Rachel entered, she seemed pretty agitated and began pacing the room with a hand on her forehead. Quinn raised an eyebrow but Rachel continued on pacing, she clearly thought she was alone as she began to mumble to herself.

"Berry?" Quinn asked after a minute of pacing. Rachel immediately span around and saw Quinn staring curiously at her. She stopped pacing and began to blush.

"What are you doing her Quinn?" she asked slightly frostily, the coldness surprised Quinn.

"I'm eating lunch." Rachel's eyebrows shot up.

"Why aren't you in the canteen with the other cheerleaders?" she asked with obvious intrigue. Quinn shrugged.

"I guess I wanted some peace." Rachel seemed satisfied with the answer and wrapped her arms around herself going back to the agitated state she was in just moments ago. "What's up with you anyway?" Quinn asked. Rachel sighed and looked back up at Quinn.

"I guess I wanted some peace as well." She said after a while. "I heard that you and Finn broke up." Quinn's eyebrows rose.

"How'd you hear about that? It only happened ten minutes ago." She knew news travelled quickly but not quite that quickly. It was Rachel's turn to shrug as she unwrapped herself from her arms.

"News travels fast, especially when it's news about McKinley's resident power couple." She spoke half-heartedly as she acknowledged her own social status making Quinn's heart ache.

"It wasn't all it was cracked up to be you know Berry." She said, trying to console the girl.

"Yeah, I can see that being popular and influential would be such a burden. Having any guy you want and a squad of girls to defend you must be so hard." Rachel spat surprising Quinn, her eyebrows rose unconsciously. She'd never thought Rachel would actually envy her position, Quinn always thought Rachel was the luckier one. Well obviously being slushied and picked on wasn't great but at least she wasn't under constant scrutiny from everyone. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"It's not like that Rachel." Quinn replied honestly, the diva's face softened as she heard Quinn using her name. "I feel like everything I do is for someone else's benefit, not because I want to do it." Quinn looked sincerely at her. "I actually envy you sometimes you know?" Rachel actually scoffed at her comment.

"Why would you, Quinn Fabray, envy me?" She asked incredulously.

"You don't pretend to be something you're not, you just are and if we don't like that then you don't care. You've known exactly what you wanted since you were what, two? You're ridiculously talented and you're parents actually love you. What isn't there for me to be jealous of?" Quinn had been slightly more truthful than she would have liked but it was worth it after she saw the ludicrously large smile that grew on Rachel's face, Quinn couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks." Rachel said blushing slightly.

"Anytime," Quinn said with a smirk. Rachel shook her head slightly. "What?" Quinn asked after taking a final bite from her granola bar.

"I just can't believe I'm talking to the same Quinn, I mean you haven't compared me to a transsexual or attempted to trip me up. You even complimented me earlier, are you feeling ok?" she asked light-heartedly however the truth in her words hit Quinn hard and caused the rock of guilt to drop back into the pit of her stomach. She looked away from Rachel, her face turning remorseful. Rachel regretted her joke as she saw Quinn's face fall, she was about to comfort her before Quinn looked back up at her with piercingly honest eyes.

"I really am sorry Rachel. I didn't mean anything I said to you, I just did it because that's what everyone expected of me and I know that's not a good enough excuse, there can't really ever be an excuse for what I've done to you but please just know that if I could take it back then I would. I don't want to hurt you again; you know you never deserved it and so did I; I was just too cowardly to do what was right and stick up for you but I will from now on. Just please know that I'm sorry, for everything." Her eyes were slightly glossed with tears at the truth in her words. She put the finished granola wrapper into her lunch bag and stood to leave without looking at Rachel. Just as she was about to exit the room Rachel called out to her.

"I forgive you" Quinn stopped and turned back to face Rachel.

"I don't expect you to Rachel, you shouldn't forgive me, I wouldn't forgive me if I was in your shoes." she said with conviction. Rachel stepped towards her forcing Quinn to make eye contact.

"I want to forgive you." She said with a smile forcing Quinn to give a small yet honest smile in response. Rachel did want to forgive Quinn, she didn't like to hold grudges, life was too short and anyway, if what Quinn had said was true then she'd have a friend, someone who actually wanted to look out for her and not because they were obliged to and that had to be worth any amount of forgiveness.

"Thanks" Quinn said quietly after a few minutes of comfortable silence. The bell rang shattering their peace. "Well, I best go to English. See you in Glee." Quinn said making a slow move towards the door, opening it for Rachel and herself. The brunette walked out the door.

"Thanks see you in Glee." She said happily, walking away down the corridor. Quinn smiled after her, feeling a lot lighter than she had in months. She sucked in another breath and headed to her locker to put away her lunch and get her books for next period with a genuine smile plastered on her face.

Quinn was one of the first people in to Glee which was unusual; she was even earlier than Rachel who was actually the second last person into the room. A gloomy Finn trailed behind her. Rachel smiled at her as she entered and took her usual place at the front of the class, their little interaction didn't go unnoticed and Santana raised her eyebrow and quirked her head to the side.

"Seriously Q, what's going on with you and Rupaul?" She asked with cold confusion. Quinn gave her a glare as she answered.

"Stop calling her that!" she berated.

"No, what do you care what I call Treasure Trail?"

"I just don't see the point in being mean to her anymore I mean what's she ever done to us?" Quinn responded getting increasingly more annoyed. Santana's eyebrows rose in shock.

"It doesn't matter what she'd done it's just what happens. She's the bottom; we're the top, it's just life." The phrase was familiar to Quinn, she'd used the excuse many times to hold back any guilt but it was as weak as most of the Cheerio's test results.

"Well I don't want to live like that anymore." Quinn shot back. Santana shook her head in disbelief but was stopped from making any further comments as Mr. Schue set them to rehearsing some more.

Throughout the practice Finn kept giving her longing and dejected looks. At first Quinn felt slightly guilty but after an hour of it she'd had enough and was glad that practice was over for the day. The boy would get the message soon enough and then he'd probably be snapped up by some other aspiring socialite, the thought didn't fill Quinn with any sort of jealousy at all in fact it made her feel slightly better about herself.

"See you tomorrow Quinn." Rachel waved as she left the classroom. Quinn gave her a warm smile. Yes she was definitely feeling better about herself after today she thought as she left the room.

Her parents arrived home at 8 as usual and dinner was prepared for 8.30 as it was every night. Her parents were onto their second drink of the evening and conversation was following much the same pattern as usual, Quinn didn't speak unless spoken to as she was expected and her father rattled on about whatever business deal he had secured today. Her mother was as indulgent as ever to her father's dull conversation, their interactions annoyed Quinn to say the least, her mum shouldn't be so submissive, Russell practically walked over her and all she did was make puppy eyes at him and pour herself another drink.

"So Quinn, did you invite that Finn boy you're dating over to dinner this week? I'd like to meet him, see if he's good enough for us Fabray's." Quinn had to repress a laugh at her father's words, it was comical the way he regarded himself.

"Um, actually daddy, we broke up." Quinn said without a note of sadness in her voice. Her father raised his eyebrows and Quinn swore she saw concern flash in her mother's eyes before she took another sip of her drink.

"You broke up? Why?" Russell asked, well demanded.

"Yes, it just wasn't working out I suppose." Quinn answered looking down at her dinner plate, she really didn't want to get into a conversation about her personal life with her father.

"Well, it's probably for the best anyway, I heard his mother worked at Wal-Mart." Russell stated as though that justified everything. Quinn actually felt embarrassed for her father at this moment and couldn't stop the bubble of anger that rose at his unsympathetic words.

"What difference does it make where his mum works?" Quinn snapped back causing both Russell and Judy to look at her in shock. Her father's shock quickly turned into anger.

"I didn't ask for your opinion Quinn! What do you think it looks having my daughter date the son of Supermarket clerk? Remember you're a Fabray, not some common Hudman or whatever his name was!" Her father said sternly causing Quinn's blood to boil.

"Hudson, his name is Hudson!" she shouted getting up from the table and throwing down her napkin for effect "I'm so sick of this!" she yelled walking towards the door.

"Quinn!" Her mother berated but Quinn just carried on walking away before she could say something she would regret in the morning when she'd wake up on Santana's sofa. She clenched her fists to try and calm her increasingly heating blood.

"Get back her Quinn! You don't ignore you mother like that!" Her father was yelling as she ascended the stairs and made her way into her room. Her parents were unbelievably shallow, she wondered if she could have actually carried on living like them for the rest of her life, deluding herself as to what success truly was, what happiness actually felt like. She couldn't imagine it and so she was glad she'd chosen to escape while she could.

**A/N: Thanks for the response last time, the votes were really in favour of a not pregnant Quinn so I guess that's the way we're going, there were some convincing arguments for pregnant Quinn and I was very tempted but I'll keep it democratic and so Quinn's remaining childless for the moment. Anyway, reviews are always appreciated as usual and I have another Question:**

**Do you want some Finn/Quinn rivalry over Rachel or not?**

**I do enjoy writing a bit of jealousy and arguing so I'm all up for it but if you're not then what would you suggest instead? I'm intrigued so please review and tell me and I'll do my best to write it for you! Ok, long authors note, I'll go now, thanks for reading and I can't wait to hear you're thoughts.**


	7. Chapter 7

Quinn's parents hadn't acknowledged her presence for over a week; her father had stopped her mother from making dinner for her which suited Quinn just fine; it wasn't like dinner was the highlight of her day. She found herself spending more time at school, staying late to work in the library or work out in the gym when she didn't have Glee or Cheerios practice. Her relationship with Santana had been going slowly downhill and her influence was slowly slipping away. It was clear Santana wanted her spot at the top but for some reason Quinn just couldn't let it go. It wasn't that she enjoyed being a bitch it was that she enjoyed somebody instead of just another generic student. She was known and respected in the school and even though she wanted to change her ways, being respected was something she wasn't prepared to lose without a fight.

Finn had stopped giving her yearning looks after the weekend and Quinn was glad of it. She'd stopped paying him much attention after Monday, focusing more on her school work and getting through the rest of Junior year. Rachel had began sitting next to her every History class and Quinn was becoming more and more fond of the diva, sure she could occasionally speak too much and some of her word choices were slightly pretentious but who was she to complain, the girl had forgive her after over a year of torment without a second thought. Her friendship with Rachel wasn't doing wonders for her social standing as she had practically removed the girl from the food chain, stopping all slushies and verbal attacks but she wasn't sure how much longer she could exercise her power in protection. She could easily keep her spot as head cheerleader being the most dedicated and skilful member of the squad however she didn't think she'd keep her spot as head bitch but that really was her own fault since she was trying her hardest not to be a bitch anymore.

It was the end of another Thursday and time for Glee club. Quinn made her way to the choir room and entered just behind Kurt and Mercedes who were gossiping animatedly about something Quinn didn't really care about, no doubt a new collection from some obscure designer in France. She looked over to the others who were seated in their usual places apart from Finn who was sat by Rachel. The brunette waved happily to her and Quinn waved back with a raised eyebrow. Rachel seemed not to notice her confusion and went back to talking animatedly with Finn. Quinn sat down next to Brittany and Santana who were practically sat on top of each other as usual.

"Looks like Rupaul's making the moves on your man Q." Santana said jeeringly.

"Don't call her that and he's not _my_ man!" She shot at the Latina who smirked in response. Quinn looked over to the girl in question and saw her talking to Finn who was smiling dumbly at her, she rolled her eyes, he really wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Q, you can stop staring, you look like a love sick puppy, it's disturbing. Just ask for him back, it's not like he's gonna say no or anything." Santana said rolling her eyes.

"What? I don't want Finn back, _I_ broke up with _him_ remember?" Quinn shot back turning to look at her friend with narrow eyes, how could she think that was that simple, they'd been happily broken up for over a week and Quinn hadn't shown any sort of regret at the fact.

"Whatever." She said with an annoying smugness that made Quinn want to hit her. She clenched her fists and turned back to look back over at Rachel who caught her eye and gave her a small smile which the blonde happily returned as Mr. Schuester entered the room with his usual bright smile. Rachel turned back to the front leaving Quinn staring at the back of her head. Brittany looked over at her with a worryingly knowing smile causing Quinn to blush and turn away with anger while Santana was facing forward, oblivious to her best friend's interaction.

Practice continued rather uneventfully, they were practicing hard for Sectionals as they had been for the past month, the club was beginning to feel more like Cheerio's practice with the relentless repetition of it all. Well it wasn't really like Cheerios, Mr. Schuester didn't yell at you for making a small mistake, he just sad some corny motivational phrase and made you run through the song again. Today's practice was no different and they'd run through 'Don't Stop Believing' about 10 times, each time Finn cast more and more longing gazes at Rachel as they sung the verses together. At first Quinn didn't really care but she found herself becoming increasingly annoyed at Finn's blatant interest in their resident Diva. Tina and Artie kept smiling knowingly at Rachel, Kurt looked jealous and everyone else continued on oblivious. Puck was too busy checking Quinn out, Mercedes was too busy stewing over being given backing vocals and Brittany and Santana just didn't care. The whole situation annoyed Quinn greatly, she couldn't help the jealousy that sparked in her gut every time she caught Finn directing his lingering glances at Rachel.

She wasn't about to go into another bout of self denial, she was jealous of Finn, not Rachel. However her honesty wasn't helping quench the burning jealousy she felt. She wasn't sure what she was jealous of, it wasn't like Finn was getting anywhere, Rachel was in her blissfully selfish performance centred state of mind; the spot light was on her and nothing else seemed to matter to her, so it clearly wasn't that. She caught Puck smirking lustfully at her body, shameless. That was it. The fact that it was acceptable for Finn, or any guy for that matter, to want to be with a girl and to be completely open and honest about it whereas she had to hide it, pretend she didn't feel anything. She narrowed her eyes at the unfairness of it all. Puck caught her eye and gave her an overconfident nod, as if he could give her whatever she wanted easily. His arrogance made her snap.

"Stop looking at me!" she yelled at Puck, breaking step. The fact that they were halfway through a song didn't seem to register in Quinn's head until after she'd spoken. The band stopped playing and the rest of the club followed suit leaving a sea of curious faces staring at the angry blond. Puck allowed his eyebrows to quirk in ignorance.

"What, you can't blame me!" he said shrugging his shoulders coolly "The Puckasaurus likes what he sees." Santana stifled a laugh while rest of the Glee club looked as confused as before. Quinn made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat.

"You are such a pig! I'm not an object so stop looking at me like I'm here for your amusement!" Quinn yelled. She wasn't sure where her words were coming from but she could feel the weight of her irrational anger decreasing as it was vented out through her mouth. Puck looked taken aback as though he actually believed she was an object sent down to earth by God for his amusement.

"You weren't saying that at my party!" he said smugly, he'd been wanting to boast about laying the head cheerleader despite the fact he could barely remember it for over a week and he was damned if he was missing his chance now.

Quinn's eyebrows rose as though they were being controlled by a rope. Her yes seemed to fill with cold, cold realisation a second later, they widened simultaneously in fear and weak warning. Puck's smirk widened at the girl's fear, it was satisfying to get one over on the Queen of McKinley, useful in fact.

"What? What party?" Kurt's voice cut the tension like a new blade. Quinn turned to face him looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights, a child caught throwing sand, her face was ghostly pale and almost pleading. Kurt looked over at Mercedes who looked just as shocked at the Cheerio's demeanour. Even Mr. Schue was intrigued.

"My party, a few weeks ago." Puck announced calmly to the rest of the club before glancing back at Quinn and giving her a self-satisfied smile. "Oh, didn't you tell anyone?" He asked the horrified cheerleader.

"Don't." She all but breathed. Finn had finally put two and two together and remembered the party, he was intrigued as to what happened.

"What didn't she tell?" Finn asked far too happily for the occasion. Rachel shot him a warning glance and he shrugged at her. Puck turned to face his best friend, this was going to piss him off but the end result would be too satisfying. Quinn shouldn't have left him high and dry.

"She got drunk and practically begged me to sleep with her." Puck grinned triumphantly. Quinn seemed to have lost control of her face which was now pale as bone and bore the expression of someone who'd just been stabbed in the back repeatedly. "And the Puckasaurus is hardly one to deny a fine looking woman." There was a collective gasp, Quinn's head dropped to her hands. Finn was slow but that didn't make his reaction any less explosive.

"What! You slept with my girlfriend!" He yelled at Puck who looked slightly affronted that his friend was yelling at him and not Quinn.

"Hey dude, she was the one who jumped on me!" He said putting up his hands in defiance.

"Why'd you do it Quinn? Why'd you sleep with him?" He asked turning to his ex however Quinn was in a whole different world, completely unaware of her surroundings. "Do you feel good about it now? Was it worth it?" He yelled stepping towards her.

"Finn!" Rachel said pulling his arm back, stopping him from advancing on the motionless girl. The giant teen wrenched his arm away and made a move towards Puck, punching him in the face before storming out of the room. Puck fell backwards into a chair and just as he was recovering Santana went over and slapped him across the cheek.

"Idiot!" she yelled at him. Sure Quinn was an idiot for sleeping with him in the first place but he shouldn't have told Finn, especially not in front of the rest of the club.

"Oww, what was that for?" Puck whined indignantly.

"For being a twat!" Santana said before looking over to Quinn who was stood motionless in a circle of concerned and shocked faces. "Ok, everyone go!" she instructed. "Especially you get out before I castrate you!" she directed severely at Puck. The boy quickly got out and followed Mike and Matt out while the other Glee clubbers dispersed muttering to each other. Even Mr. Schue made a quiet exit, he doubted there was much he could do for Quinn and Finn had probably already left. Brittany wrapped an arm around Quinn muttering innocently comforting phrases to the shell-shocked girl.

In her mind Quinn was seeing the edges of her carefully constructed world crumpling slowly inwards on themselves. The process that she'd started was now occurring impossibly fast. She didn't want to hurt Finn, she didn't want to lose everything she'd worked for and she didn't want people to see all her mistakes, her real life bared before them, blemishes and imperfections highlighted and cross-examined. She was faintly aware of being moved into a sitting position with a warm arm draped caring over her shoulders.

"Quinn?" Santana asked with evident and uncharacteristic concern. "Q, snap out of it! It's not the end of the world." Quinn began to quietly cry. Santana rolled her eyes. "So you slept him, big deal, everyone sleeps around Q, we're teenagers, it's what we do."

"I was with someone else and I was drunk and jealous, I should never have gone to that dumb party." Quinn said guiltily.

"It's no big deal, Man child will get over it, it's not like you were in love or anything." Santana said trying to calm her friend.

"Yeah me and S sleep with people all the time and we don't hate each other." Brittany added cheerily. Santana went slightly red at the comment.

"Err, yeah, right. He'll get over it." Santana said rubbing her neck. Their words were kind hearted but did nothing to stop the guilt and anger that were eating away at Quinn. She knew what she did was her own fault, it was wrong and selfish, and Finn didn't deserve it. The cocktail of self-destructive emotions was mixing dangerously in her stomach.

Santana's phone rang and she answered in Spanish, her voice raising instantly as she argued with the person on the other end of the line. Brittany continued to softly say encouraging things but Quinn wasn't listening; she was silently stewing the feelings, trying to extinguish them and instead subconsciously allowing them to grow and fester. Santana put her phone back in her pocket and turned to her two best friends.

"I have to go, mum's freaking out over something. Do you want a lift home Q?"

"No thanks, I've got my car." She answered evenly.

"Ok then. B, we've gotta go." She said grabbing their bags.

"See you tomorrow Q." The tall blond said, jumping up happily to join the Latina.

"Bye Q." Santana said giving her a reassuring smile.

"Bye." Quinn answered absent-mindedly. They left the choir room to silence leaving Quinn to her thoughts. The door opened again and a new figure entered the room. Quinn didn't look up, she was too far into her own mind to be aware of everything else going on around her. The new body came and sat down beside her before breaking through the silence.

"Quinn?" it was Rachel, the blond came round quickly to look at the girl she thought had left ages ago.

"What are you doing here?" she asked coldly, her irrational anger seemed to coat her like a harsh frost, Rachel cringed at the unfriendly question.

"I wanted to see how you were doing?" she asked undeterred.

"What do you care?" back to square one. Rachel deflated slightly before sitting back up and giving the broken girl beside her a hollow smile.

"Friends care." At this comment Quinn snapped, she wasn't sure why, maybe it was her anger at the fact that they were just friends, barely friends, and that was all they could ever be because of the hands that life had dealt them. Maybe it was because although she knew she was to blame for her actions at the party a part of her wanted to be able to blame someone else, someone who had been the cause of her need to change, the root cause, or at least the perceived root cause, of her loss of innocence. Whatever it was it caused Quinn to allow the rancid vat of emotion that had been building up in her belly for a long time to spill out and be tipped all over the undeserving young women before her.

"It's your fault this happened Rachel! My life would be great if you weren't here! I wouldn't have had to do all these stupid things, I could have been happy with what I had, with what everyone wanted me to have! It's your fault!" she screamed, and with that the vat was emptied leaving Quinn hollow and bereft of motivation. She attempted to stand and move out of the room but instead collapsed back into her chair and broke. Rachel sat stunned and hurt beside her before snapping out of it and pulling Quinn to her at first the blonde tried to fight it, repeating "It's your fault" over and over but she eventually gave in and succumbed to the brunettes embrace, sobbing into her shoulder.

In any normal circumstance Quinn would have been ashamed to show this amount of weakness, of emotion, but this was no normal circumstance. She was finally letting it all go, finally giving in to being a human with strengths and weaknesses, actual emotions and feelings, regrets and ambitions and Rachel wasn't scared or disgusted, she was just there, holding her.

After around about half an hour Quinn had run out of energy and her cries subsided leaving the usual awkwardness that occurs after emotional outpourings. Quinn felt purged, newborn but embarrassment was slowly beginning show its unwelcome hand. Rachel was still rubbing her back comfortingly as she broke away from the secure hold.

"I'm Sorry" she breathed, her voice cracking from the weight of the words.

"I know." Rachel said simply.

"It was my fault." Quinn accepted to herself and Rachel knew she shouldn't question it despite her curious nature. Quinn would tell her what she meant when she was ready and not a moment earlier. "Do you need a ride home?" Quinn asked after a few minutes, popping their small, isolated bubble. Rachel smiled at the head cheerleader.

"That would be most appreciated." She replied; Quinn shook her head grinning. "What?" Rachel asked elbowing the girl.

"You could have just said yes." Quinn laughed as Rachel rolled her eyes. The blond got up and offered her hand to the brunette who took it after a second's hesitation, allowing herself to be pulled up with a warm smile. They left the choir room and stepped out into the deserted parking lot, irrational laughter bubbling up around them.

**A/N: ****Right well that was a hard chapter to write, sorry it goes a bit weird at the end, I'm gonna blame it on the fact that I've been reading Enduring Love for English Lit.**

**How did you find that chapter? And also, how'd you want the story to progress from here because I don't have a clue what to do next?**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok so this chapter has been split kinda in half, I've spent so long writing it I needed a break but I wanted to update so you've got all the drama type things and then the next chapter will probably be reasonably fluffy, or that's the plan at least. Anyway, enjoy!**

The key clicked slowly in the ignition, silencing the dull rumble of the engine and bathing the car in a sudden hush that begged to be filled with more than just breathing and fading light. The air had suddenly become heavy; an apparent weight on both the girl's shoulders but it was a pleasant weight, like that of a thick blanket. Quinn smiled into the silence as she let her hands slide of the wheel into her waiting lap.

"Do you want to come in?" Rachel asked in a breath, lacking the usual confidence that interlaced her voice. She looked nervously at the blonde cheerleader sat mere inches away from her, smiling warmly.

"I'm sorry, I should probably get back." She said pulling her gaze away from the shorter girl's fierce eyes. Rachel's face fell in disappointment and a slight twinge of embarrassment causing Quinn to instinctively reach out and touch her exposed arm before she had time to think. The movement became awkward and ended up as more of a tap than a comforting gesture. She gave a small cough to clear the air before explaining, "I mean, it's late, I don't need to give my parents another reason to ignore me."

"Ignore you?" Rachel asked in surprise, her relationship with her father's was clearly better than she'd thought, she assumed everyone's family worked in a similar way, unconditional love and all that but clearly not. Quinn gave a short, humourless laugh.

"Yeah, they really are that small." Rachel looked almost confused, her eyebrows were narrowed in thought but Quinn really didn't want to talk about her parents to anyone let alone Rachel. They didn't deserve any of her thoughts. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" Quinn asked hopefully, Rachel looked up and smiled at her.

"Yeah thanks for the lift, next time you should stay for dinner." She said warmly. The idea of meeting her parents after she'd bullied their daughter for the past year and a bit was daunting to say the least and Quinn's face must have betrayed her reluctance. "You don't have to if you don't want to, sorry, we don't really even know each other I don't know what I was thinking, of course you don't want to come to my house for dinner-"

"Rach, of course I want to, I just don't think your dads would want me at their house after; you know... everything I've done to you." Quinn said guiltily, looking down at her lap. She truly did regret everything heartless and stupid thing she'd done to the diva.

"Quinn, I forgave you and so will they. I want you to come over." She said and this time making successful contact, placing her hand over Quinn's in her lap. Their eyes met in another warming smile.

"Ok, so when shall I come over?" Quinn asked quietly after a few moments undisturbed gazing.

"Tomorrow?" Quinn's smile increased.

"Ok, tomorrow, I'll come over after cheerio's practice." Rachel beamed back.

"Perfect." Their smiles increased until they broke out into quiet giggles to try and dissipate some of the happy tension that now hung like a warm fog around them. Things had changed so much over the past weeks that it seemed only right to laugh, the change was slightly ridiculous really. "See you tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow" Rachel pulled open her door and got out. "Bye" Quinn said just as she closed the door, Rachel waved at her through the cold glass and almost skipped to her door. She couldn't believe she finally had a friend to invite over and the fact that this friend was no other than Quinn Fabray was crazy. She happily opened her front door and waved Quinn of as her car backed out of the driveway.

Quinn smiled to herself as she drove the 6 blocks back to her house, today had been a good day despite everything that had happened in Glee. Puck was an ass but he'd somehow managed to bring her closer to Rachel so all in all the day was worth it and tomorrow would hopefully be even better. She pulled up onto her drive and unbuckled her seat belt, placing her hand over where Rachel had rested hers just minutes ago; it still tingled with that exciting warmth. She allowed herself one more smile before exiting the car and entering the deserted house.

Her parents hadn't got home until 8 that night and greeted her with the same cold shoulder she'd been facing for over a week. Quinn stayed in her room that night finishing homework and reading before turning the light out at 10 and trying to quell the excitement she felt for the next day.

Quinn was thankful that today was Friday it meant she wouldn't have to face the rest of Glee club, she could just hide amongst the Cheerio's and try and avoid Finn and Puck who she was sure to hit if she got the chance. His arrogance was infuriating and she wished she hadn't have frozen up the previous night and was able to cause him some serious pain. She was sure Santana would have joined in.

Morning Cheerio practice was easy enough, she'd managed to do everything perfectly as usual and even got some cryptic and heavily disguised praise from Ms. Sylvester for the final run through. She was beginning to gain some more respect but doubted very much that it would remain high when news of her 'affair' came out. Santana had told her she'd back her up though, their friendship was also looking up, the Latina's show of defensive behaviour in Glee had shown her that her second in command was still on her side despite all her 'weird' and unexpected behaviour. In fact Quinn was even happy as she entered first period History at smiled at Rachel who was already sat in her new seat beside the blond. The move was still not accepted by the Cheerio's but she had enough power still to stop them from speaking out or hurting the brunette.

"Hey Rach" Quinn grinned as she took her seat and began pulling out her books.

"Hi Quinn, did you have a pleasant practice this morning?" Rachel greeted in her usual cheerful manner making Quinn smile even more to herself.

"Yeah thanks, a good... whatever it is you do on a Friday morning?" she smirked.

"It was fantastic thank you." She replied causing Quinn's smile to grow. The head cheerleader caught sight of Santana making a sick face behind Rachel's head and shot her a warning glance causing the Latina to crack a small and discrete smile before turning back to Brittany. Quinn shook her head, although she would never admit it Santana didn't actually hate Rachel at all, she was a bitch to everyone really. "What was that all about?" Rachel asked in confusion glancing backwards in the direction Quinn's glare had just been aimed at.

"Oh nothing, just Santana being a bitch" Quinn said the last few words a little loudly so the other girl could hear. Santana turned around and gave her the finger causing Quinn to crack a smile and shake her head. Rachel looked even more bemused after their latest interaction, she thought they were friends. Quinn found her confusion quite endearing and gave any warm smile, she was becoming far to soft around the short brunette. "Don't worry about it Rachel, It's just how me and S work." She said with a note of amusement in her voice.

Rachel still looked slightly confused as the teacher came in and began the lesson setting them to work in silence on some essay after a brief lecture. The class was over quickly and everyone began to file out the door.

"I'll see you later then?" Quinn asked as she and Rachel made their way out the door to part and go their separate ways until the evening when their lives would once again brush.

"Of course, what time should I be expecting you?" Rachel asked brightly.

"Um, well I'll have to go home and shower first so maybe around half five if that's ok?"

"It's perfect. I'll see you tonight at about half five then."

"Half five it is." Quinn said, reluctant to part for nearly 9 hours. She gave a warm smile which Rachel returned with twice as much enthusiasm, the smile filling her whole face and causing Quinn's insides to heat up comfortably. They parted at the other side of the corridor, Quinn turning left to go to Spanish and Rachel right to Maths, their lonely universes once again pulling apart after a burst of unity.

Spanish was the class Quinn was dreading after all that had happened with Puck and Finn being in a classroom with the two boys was not what she wanted. She contemplated skipping but decided that she'd have to face them both at some point anyway so took the hundred or so steps from her History to her Spanish room and took an empty desk.

Finn entered and gave her an unsuccessful blast of ice, he came off as more of a moody toddler than an angry ex-boyfriend, pouting at her as he took his seat. Puck entered and gave her a self-indulgent smirk before waggling his eyebrows at her, the sight actually made her feel a little sick, he was so ridiculously arrogant and seemed to show no remorse for his actions. She didn't think anyone was actually capable of being that much of an ass.

The mow hawked kid took a seat in front of her beside some other brainless jock before turning to her and saying in his usual, cool and confident voice, "Hey babe" Quinn's eye widened in awe of his idiocy.

"Don't talk to me pig." Puck didn't deflate at all and instead was encouraged by the mocking laughter of the jocks that surrounded him. Quinn really didn't want to get involved with the immature adolescent.

"I'm not a pig, I'm a shark babe." He said coyly, "You wanna know why?" he asked, leaning in and raising an eyebrow. Quinn didn't respond but sat back in her chair, crossed her arms and looked away from the boy currently leaning over her desk. "'If I stop moving; I die" Quinn couldn't suppress the bark of mocking laughter that left her mouth.

"Wow that was lame" Quinn said coldly, Puck appeared to momentarily deflate before what looked worryingly like an actual thought showed in his eyes.

"It worked on you" he said triumphantly before turning to high five the guy sat beside him wow was now laughing along with all the other boneheaded jocks and much of the rest of the class that was in hearing distance, barring Finn who just looked angry. Quinn could actually feel her respect levels plunging, sleeping with Puck was one of the stupidest things she'd ever allowed herself to do and she couldn't even remember doing it. She rolled her eyes and scoffed turning her head sharply to stare out of the window. This lesson was going to be tortuous.

In fact the lesson wasn't actually as bad as she'd thought it was going to be. Puck hadn't really bothered her much after his initial comment, probably because of the condemning presence of Mr Schuester although he wouldn't admit that. The rest of the day wasn't really that bad either. Sure news of Quinn's 'experience' had circulated the entire student body by lunchtime but Santana had been sending out some many murderous glares that no one dared even speak when the unholy trinity passed through the corridor.

The rest of the day went on in much the same fashion, in lessons without the protection of Santana then Quinn was surrounded by whispers and cautious glances although really it wasn't really breaking news, most of the Cheerios had slept with Puck or at least one of the jocks and this was public knowledge however it didn't stop Quinn from feeling cheap and pathetic for succumbing to the resident man-whore.

The end of practice couldn't come quickly enough as Ms. Sylvester had them running suicides and as head cheerleader Quinn was expected to excel; a mean feat with Santana beside her in the team. By the end of she was in certain need of a shower and probably a quick nap before going to the Berry's however she didn't want to give a bad impression by turning up late so the nap would have to be exchanged for a quick coffee. Quinn went into the lockers and quickly packed her duffle bag before shouldering it and heading to her locker to collect her books. Once out in the lot she saw Santana and Brittany making their way to the Latina's car, pinkies interlinked. She smiled at her friends before getting into her BMW 5 series and dumping her bag on the passenger seat. Having parents that cared about all aspects of their outward appearance did have its upsides, ok, just the one, the car was great.

She pulled out of the lot and drove home, nervous anticipation bubbling up in her stomach. She was anxious about meeting the Berry's but excited to be spending time outside of school with Rachel for the first time. Well for the first proper, pre-arranged time. She rolled up onto the driveway and clicked the hand break, grabbing her bag as she stepped out of the car and locked it. She was upstairs and in the shower within 5 minutes of being home and out again at ten past five. She chose a simple red dress and a long sleeved white cardigan and dried her hair into waves, this would be the first time Rachel had seen her in anything but her Cheerio's uniform other than when they were in costume for Glee and she was determined to make a good impression.

She gave herself one more look over in the mirror before smoothing out her dress and heading downstairs and into the kitchen where she grabbed a notepad and a pen from the worktop and scrawled a message:

_Going out to a friend's house for dinner, don't know when I'll be back, Quinn._

She tore the message off the pad and grabbed her car keys, leaving the note on the worktop for her mum to find later, before leaving the house and driving the 6 blocks to Rachel's house and pulling up onto her driveway. She checked herself over in the rear-view, fixing her hair and taking a deep breath. She pocketed her keys in one of her flowing pockets and opened the car door in one clean move. The door shut with a loud thud before and the now very nervous Cheerio made her way slowly across the shallowly sloped drive to the dark wood door of the Berry residence. She raised an anxious arm and pressed the cool metal of the bell with the tip of her slim index finger.

Rachel heard the long awaited chime of the door bell just as she put the lid back on her ratatouille. "I'll get it." She shouted up to her daddy who was in the study upstairs. She removed her apron and hung it on the back of the door before going to the front door to greet Quinn. He took a deep breath and straightened out her skirt before putting a hand to the latch and guiding the door open. Quinn was stood nervously on the threshold, giving her a weak yet friendly smile.

The blond was hit by a rush of warm air as the door opened into the crisp late October evening. She was greeted by a bright yet nervous smile; this was probably a first for her too. Despite being popular Quinn had never really been over to someone's house on her own, it was always with a group of other cheerleaders or with Brittany or Santana and she'd never been invited over just for dinner before, only for sleepovers or 'study sessions' so she wasn't quite sure what to expect.

"Hi" Quinn said to break the nervous silence, her voice cracked slightly from a mixture of misuse and nerves. Rachel's smile seemed to ease and melt more into her face at the sound of her voice as if she need it's confirmation that Quinn actually was stood on her doorstep.

"Hi, come in, you must be freezing out there." She said, turning to allow the blond into the house. Quinn took a nervous step in and scanned the room she was now stood in, a reasonably sized sitting room, the walls were painted a warming cream colour, pictures of Rachel and her dad's hung from most of the walls, a large book case took up most of the far wall with a stand up piano taking up the remainder of the space. A large, clearly well used sofa was in the centre of the room facing a small television set that was pushed up against the wall closest to Quinn and on the wall opposite was an open archway into what appeared to be a kitchen/dining room. The space looked comfortable and lived in, so much a contrast to Quinn's elegant yet impractical, fake house. That was the difference; she lived in a house whereas Rachel lived in a home, she beamed widely at the room.

"Yeah it is pretty cold out there now." Quinn said as the brunette entered the room just behind her. "Your house is beautiful Rachel." The shorter girl scoffed.

"I wouldn't go as far as to call it beautiful, it's nice, not really beautiful."

"Exactly" the blonde stated contently. Rachel looked slightly baffled but returned the warm smile Quinn was now giving her. She really couldn't think of what to say or do now, the thought of what to actually do to entertain the blond hadn't actually occurred to her, she was too concerned with what to cook that Quinn would like.

"Sorry, now that you're here I don't really know what we can do; my dad won't get home from work until about 6 so dinner will have to wait until then and my daddy is currently working upstairs, not that there's much that he could do but I-"

"Rachel," Quinn could feel a long winded speech coming on and she thought she'd save the diva the awkwardness "I don't mind what we do, we can do anything, I'm just happy I can spend some time away from my parents, especially with you." She added the last part without really thinking it through and so blushed a little however Rachel's smile only increased and she was glad for the slip up.

"Ok, well why don't we watch TV for a little while then?"

"That sounds good to me."

"Ok then." The short brunette nodded her head before leading the way to the sofa and turning on the small set, FOX News came on, the news reader talking about some new government legislation as global share prices scrolled across the bottom of the screen. "Oh sorry, daddy's always watching this channel, me and dad can't stand it, it's so depressing." Rachel commented as she began flicking through the channels.

"Yeah, my dad's the same, I swear it's the only thing him and mum watch. Well my mum watches the occasional show on ABC when dad's out but apart from that it's all just news." Quinn took a seat on the opposite side of the sofa to Rachel, she instantly sank back into the cushions and a very comfortable position. "Wow your couch is comfy." She said with a grin to which Rachel gave a musical laugh.

"It really is" Rachel agreed. They settled on watching some old rerun of friends, settling in to a comfortable chat about favourite programmes and ones they just couldn't stand. It was 6 before they even knew it and Rachel's dad entered the room with a jacket draped over his arm and briefcase in hand.

"Hey Rach" he greeted his daughter "and you must be Quinn" he said with a smile before putting down his things and walking over to greet the girl. The girls stood up, Rachel gave her dad a hug before turning off the TV.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Berry" Quinn said, holding out her hand and trying not to let her nerves show as the man examined her with a smile.

"Please, call me Daniel, Mr. Berry reminds me too much of work." he said warmly before taking her hand and shaking it firmly. "I've heard all about you from Rachel" he said good naturedly however Quinn went noticeably paler and slightly guilty prompting Daniel to back track a little. "All good things mind, I hear you're quite the piano player." He said, another grin overriding his face, it was easy to see where Rachel's got her smile from.

"Well, I used to play, not really anymore." Quinn said, still trying to avoid the man's eyes.

"That's not what Rachel said, she told us you played wonderfully, you'll have to let us hear later, that piano over there barely gets a look-in these days, she'll be glad of the attention." He joked pointing over to the piano that stood lonely beside the bookshelf. Rachel shook her head in embarrassment.

"Ok dad, why don't you go up stairs and get daddy and we'll get dinner ready." She urged.

"Ok, ok, I know when I'm not wanted." He said dramatically, collecting his things once more he rolled his eyes at Quinn, in mock exasperation, before going back up the stairs.

"I saw that!" Rachel warned genially before turning back to Quinn, "Well, that's my dad, the embarrassing one." She joked before walking into the kitchen and checking on the ratatouille.

"He's nice" Quinn remarked, leaning against the counter as Rachel began boiling the kettle and pulling out a large saucepan from a draw.

"He's embarrassing" Rachel assured while pulling out a bag of fresh vegan pasta and pouring the now boiled water in the saucepan on the stove.

"Is there anything I can do?" Quinn asked feeling slightly useless.

"Um, you could lay the table if you want? The cutlery's in the draw just there." Rachel pointed to a draw next to the fridge.

"Sure" the blond said moving towards the draw, happy to help out. She began setting the table as Rachel pulled out 4 large pasta bowls and checked on her pasta. "What's cooking?" Quinn asked before realising how lame that sounded, happy that she had her back to the diva to lay the table.

"What's cooking?" Rachel repeated in gentle mocking.

"Yeah ok, you know what I mean. What have you prepared for dinner? Better?"

"Slightly, it's ratatouille and pasta, not very interesting but it's one of my favourites and I thought you might like it."

"I'm sure it'll be great." Quinn said with enthusiasm, no one had really ever thought about her enjoyment of a meal for some time, her mum hadn't knowingly made her favourite meal since she was a kid and so it was nice that Rachel had put some thought in; that and the fact that it really did smell good.

Quinn finished laying the table and came to lean against the counter beside Rachel again who was draining off the pasta and beginning to plate it up as her dad's entered the room. Daniel smiled at her before going into one of the cupboards and pulling out 4 glasses to place on the table however the shorter, sandy haired man behind him gave her a cautious glance before coming forward.

"Quinn right?" He asked although it was clear he knew who she was and he didn't like it. Quinn attempted to calm her anxiety and reply.

"Yes sir" she said, offering her hand which he took after a brief, dubious look. The handshake was short and sharp and seemed to convey his less than happy attitude to Quinn's appearance in his kitchen.

"Mark" he said simply, neither coldly nor cordially "we've heard a lot about you Quinn." He stated, giving the phrase a menacing sort of magnitude.

"Daddy, please don't make a scene." Rachel warned.

"I'm not making a scene, I'm allowed to talk to the friend you've invited over." He seemed to say this with scepticism, it was clear he doubted Quinn's intention with this new friendship and Quinn recognised that he had a right to.

"Mark..." Daniel warned his husband.

"What? You can't blame me for being slightly sceptical, the girl has bullied Rachel for over a year and now she's suddenly her friend, over for dinner with us. It's a little strange don't you think?" Mark commented brashly. Daniel looked embarrassed and Rachel just looked affronted, she didn't want Quinn to be put off by her father, she was the first person to actually want to spend time with her, for her in 16 years and now her daddy was about mess that all up and send Quinn running for the hills. She opened her mouth in order to rebuke her father however was cut off by a nervous yet self-assured voice.

"Mr. Berry, may I talk to you?" Quinn asked the shorter man who looked almost surprised by her question.

"Of course, follow me." He said after a few seconds deliberation. He looked over to his husband who was giving him a questioning look before leading the girl from the room and into the living room. It wasn't exactly private but it would have to do Quinn thought as finished sketching out a brief speech and beginning.

"Mr. Berry I understand that my friendship with Rachel may seem very unexpected and even unwelcome to yourself and I would like to apologise for my past behaviour, it really was completely unacceptable and undeserved and I truly regret it. I have already apologised to Rachel and I will continue to do so because I can never make up for all the stupid things I've done to her but I would like you to know that I will never, ever do anything to intentionally hurt her ever again. I don't expect any sort of forgiveness from you or your husband however I hope that you can accept that I do regret it all and that I intend to be a good friend to your daughter for the foreseeable future." She said with conviction, offering out her hand to the bespectacled man who was looking at her with an intrigued smile. He was very surprised with her intelligent speech, it was clear she was being genuine and while he was still angry with the girl for everything she'd done to his daughter and probably always would be, he could see that she would make her a good friend even though it was clear that the blonds' feelings towards his daughter were a bit deeper than friendship from the earnest look in her eyes.

"Thank you Quinn" he said taking the girls hand and offering her a firm handshake in acceptance of her words. Quinn gave a small yet genuine smile, "Shall we go back and eat?" he asked before walking back into the kitchen closely followed by Quinn.

**A/N 2: Ok, so here's the question: Do you want Quinn to tell Rachel about her feelings or do you want it to continue on as it is for a while, maybe get outed somehow? Ok so I haven't really thought it all out but I have a few ideas so tell me how you want to read because that's why I'm writing it, I want you guys to enjoy it. So review! =]**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews I've had so far, they really help motivate me to write so thanks. Right here's the second half; it's a bit of a filler but I hope you enjoy it all the same and review!**

The atmosphere in the room was subdued to say the least. It was clear that Rachel and Daniel had heard most if not all of Quinn's speech and it was slightly awkward although no one really knew why. Rachel felt happy that Quinn felt strongly enough to talk to her dad one to one but now she felt slightly guilty for listening in. Daniel was just angry at his husband for forcing Quinn to have to talk to him in the first place but was also proud of Quinn for sticking up for herself and obviously impressing Mark.

"Let's eat." Daniel said to try and cut the tension as the pair sat down, Quinn didn't look at Rachel as she took her place and Mark looked reasonably taken aback, giving his husband a reassuring glance as he sat down opposite him on the square table. They began eating in a strained silence, Quinn never looking up from her pasta until Daniel tried to engage her in some sort of a conversation and salvage the meal.

"So Quinn, I hear you're in Glee club." It wasn't so much a question but a statement that somehow required an answer.

"Yes I am." She answered giving him the briefest of glances.

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Yes, it's good to have something else to do other than school and Cheerleading; it's one of the best parts of my week really." Quinn answered simply before taking another forkful of pasta.

"Good" and the conversation died a quiet death for about two minutes, the kitchen filled with the sounds of metal clanging against china and the occasional cough. Rachel was shinking into her chair, this was actually painful, Quinn was focusing on her pasta so hard she was sure it was going to burst into flame, her daddy was the same but her dad seemed to be amused by something as he had a knowing smirk on his face that was annoying Rachel.

"What's so funny dad?" she asked slightly annoyed prompting the man to look up with a questioning smirk.

"Oh nothing, this just reminds me of a few meals in my younger years." He answered cryptically. Mark looked up to him and gave a small, knowing grin causing Rachel to become more annoyed, she hated it when they kept her in the dark about anything and these knowing looks were no exception.

"What meals?"

"Family meals where I brought someone new over. It's funny how tense they get is all." He said; Quinn seemed to look slightly embarrassed by his comment and focused back on her food which impelled Rachel to become more irritated.

"It's not tense." She snapped impelling Daniel to raise his eyebrows.

"Of course not dear, it's great. Nice pasta." Mark said with a strangled giggle.

"Oh god this is painful!" Daniel exclaimed releasing him and Mark into a bout of laughter that even Quinn joined in as the tension seemed to ease. Rachel looked put out and this prompted the laughter to escalate as she gave a bewildered yet irritated pout which made her look like an angry toddler. "Oh Rachel honey, lighten up a bit." Daniel said as the laughing began to subside.

"I will not lighten up!" she exclaimed before getting up from the table and executing a perfect storm out. Quinn watched her leave in surprise, she didn't know whether to go after her or not. She looked over at Mark and Daniel who were both rolling their eyes.

"She does it at least once a week, you can go and check on her if you want but she'll be in a mood for at least an hour so watch out." Mark said upon seeing Quinn's worried expression.

"Um, right, thanks." The blond said as she got up from the table and exited the kitchen climbing cautiously up the stairs. The landing was a painted a light green colour with about 5 doors leading off it. She walked down the narrow yet light corridor until she came to a door with a gold star painted on the front. She would have rolled her eyes if she'd seen it at any other time, it was so Rachel the thought made her smile slightly.

"Rachel?" she asked gently as she knocked on the door. There was no reply so she decided to try the handle, it gave and she slowly pushed the door open. "Rachel?" she asked again as the door opened revealing a warm yellow room, decorated with a few Broadway posters, a white desk with a fluffy white desk chair, a white four-poster bed, a few cuddly toys spread over the pillows and warm lighting. Not the pink hell Quinn had been expecting. She found Rachel lying down on the bed, facing away from her, a pillow hugged against her chest.

"Rachel what's wrong?" Quinn asked stepping towards her. The brunette turned over to reveal slightly reddened eyes.

"My dads!" she exclaimed surprising Quinn somewhat.

"What about them?" Quinn asked, genuinely intrigued, her storm out didn't make much sense.

"Daddy practically interrogated you after I told him not to and now you're all laughing about it."

"Rach, he has a right to ask me questions, not everyone is as forgiving as you. If it was my daughter I probably would have kicked me out, he gave me a chance to speak and that's more than I would have done." Quinn said sitting down on the bed and resting her hand on the shorter girls shoulder comfortingly. The girl didn't reply for some time.

"I just don't want him to scare you off, you're the first proper friend I've had in a very long time and I don't want them to take that away from me because they can't get over the past." She said quietly, focusing on the wall.

"Rach, I'm not going anywhere even if your dad's didn't approve I'd still be here trying to win them over. I meant what I said to your dad, I intend to stick around for the foreseeable future." Quinn said with conviction. Rachel allowed a small smile to grace her lips. She sat up and looked at Quinn.

"This is all just so... I don't understand why you want to be my friend Quinn, I mean, I'm a loser, no one likes me but now you suddenly do and it's good but I don't understand why you're here. It's just, so unexpected but good unexpected." She said with slightly furrowed brows as if she was trying to understand Quinn's reasoning but struggling.

"You're not a loser Rachel." She gave the short brunette's hand a squeeze. "You're a great person and everyone who can't see that is an idiot. I was an idiot. I'm the one who doesn't understand, I mean you've forgiven me for being an ass for over a year and now I'm here in your house, eating food you cooked for me as though the past never happened. I'd say it's me who should be confused not you." Quinn was looking ardently at Rachel, trying to convey her gratitude. Rachel shook her head.

"This is really weird, I swear I'm in some sort of parallel dimension." Rachel said with a smile.

"I know." Quinn replied with a laugh. "Shall we go back and eat? I'm pretty hungry and that pasta is really tasty." She asked getting back onto her feet and offering her hand to Rachel who took it with a warm smile.

As they entered the kitchen Quinn let go of Rachel's hand and the two men smiled at them.

"Wow Quinn, what do you do up there, no sign of a pout or anything, impressive." Daniel said with a grin. Everyone gave a laugh apart from Rachel who put her hands on her hips.

"I am here you know" she stated indignantly.

"Only messing with you, come on, you're foods probably cold now." Daniel said as Rachel sat down with a roll of her eyes and began to eat her lukewarm dinner. "So Quinn how did you do it? It usually takes us a good hour to calm her back down but you were only up there for what, ten minutes?" Daniel said in mock astonishment. Quinn and Mark laughed.

"I guess it was beginners luck." Rachel pouted making Quinn giggle some more.

"Hey! You're meant to be sticking up for me; maybe I should have poisoned your food." Rachel laughed as Quinn feigned offence and looked worriedly at her now empty bowl. The two older Berry's shook their heads in amusement. Everyone had finished their meals and began clearing the table, Quinn helped Rachel take the plates to the worktop.

"We'll take it from here" Mark said to the two girls "that was great honey."

"Yeah, we should get you to cook more often now we know you won't poison us." Daniel added.

"Don't count on it, I just didn't want to kill Quinn on her first visit, what kind of impression would that give?" Rachel joked smiling at Quinn who gave her a warm smile in return. The girls left the two older Berry's to the washing up and went and sat back on the couch. "Friday night's movie night by the way if you want to stay that is." Rachel added in a smaller voice looking down at the worn red fabric of the couch.

"'Course I want to stay, what are we watching?" Quinn said enthusiastically causing Rachel to brighten up and her ridiculously large grin to appear once more.

"Well we usually watch a musical but we can watch whatever really. The DVDs are on the shelf over there" she said pointing towards the large bookshelf before getting up and gesturing for Quinn to follow. Most of the DVDs were musicals, the occasional romcom or action film could be found sandwiched between Wicked and West side Story.

"What do you want to watch?" Quinn asked as she scrutinized the rows and rows of DVDs. She didn't want to chose something no one else would want to watch.

"Well my favourite musical is Funny Girl but you've probably already seen that loads." Rachel said scanning over the shelf.

"Um, no I've never watched that." Quinn said looking over at Rachel who stopped what she was doing and snapped her neck round to look at Quinn in wonderment.

"You've never seen Funny Girl?" She exclaimed.

"No, we don't watch many musicals at home; well we don't really watch any films..." Quinn replied feeling slightly self conscious under the divas stunned stare. She actually looked quite shaken at the revelation before snapping out of it and grabbing a pink DVD case and running over to the DVD player as her dads re-entered the room.

"Oh you've chosen a film then, what is?" Mark asked as he began pulling the arm chair towards the centre of the room for a better view of the TV.

"Funny Girl." Rachel announced importantly to the room eliciting a groan from the two Berry men.

"Not again" Daniel muttered.

"No, it is a matter of severe importance that we watch Funny Girl tonight, Quinn is yet to experience its charms and what sort of friend would I be to pass up this opportunity of opening her eyes to the wonders of Barbra Streisand."

"A good one" Daniel muttered to himself however Rachel heard and glowered at him. Sensing things could get ugly Quinn decided to but in.

"If you've already seen it so many times then we can watch something else, we could always watch it some other time Rach." Quinn suggested however the glare was now being cast at her. Quinn's eyebrows rose in alarm and she felt compelled to put her hands up in surrender.

"No no it's fine Quinn, I didn't get a chance to read the paper today anyway." Mark interjected, Rachel's glare turned into a bright smile again almost instantly and she proceeded to put the DVD into the player and turn on the TV set. Quinn took a seat next to the arm of the couch and Daniel frequented the opposite side. Rachel took the remote and bounced into her position between Quinn and her dad with a satisfied smirk which made the blond grin. She pressed play and so it began.

Rachel seemed to squeak every time Barbra came on screen and her face fell and rose with ever event in the story. Quinn spent more time watching Rachel than she did the screen the film was a bit dull in comparison really, another 'abandon it all for love only to find it's not really worth it' film, Rachel's expressions were much more interesting. Each time Barbra would sing Rachel would join in occasionally singing to Quinn and prompting her to giggle as her dad's yelled at her to stop. It was such a relaxed scene, Rachel's dad's were rolling their eyes constantly as their daughter became more and more absorbed in the film, giving each other knowing glances every five minutes and Rachel was so comfortably lost in what was playing out before her. The scene was so different from anything that would happen in her clinically elegant lounge. It was easy to become absorbed because it felt so safe and natural in the presence of the Berry's and their cosy lounge. This was a proper family despite anything her dad had ever said to the contrary, they were more normal than her fake family unit, they were real and happy.

The film eventually finished and Rachel gave a contented sigh before turning to her. "So what do you think?" she asked dreamily.

"It was great." Quinn replied sincerely, it really was great to be sat in a living room with real people just being there and enjoying each other's company. It was then that Quinn realised it was very dark outside and that she should probably be getting back. She checked the wall clock, 9.30; she'd been there for 4 hours which surprised her. "I should probably go... It's pretty late." She said sadly.

"Oh ok, what is the time?"

"Half nine" Quinn stated whilst getting up from the couch and stretching. Rachel stood up as well.

"I suppose that is quite late. Well, thank you for accepting my invitation and sharing your evening with me." Rachel said with reluctance, time had gone by too quickly. "We should do this again some time. If you want that is?" she asked hopefully causing Quinn to give a genuine smile. By this time they were by the door and the two eldest Berry's were making their way towards them to say goodbye.

"Rachel, of course I want to come over, I've had a great time, dinner was great, I wouldn't pass up a chance to eat your food again." She said giving the brunette a wide grin which was duly returned.

"It was nice to meet you Quinn." Mark said seriously, offering her his hand again which she took and shook firmly.

"Nice to meet you too sir" She stated seriously before cracking a grin which was returned by Mark.

"Hope to see you again soon Quinn, it's been an interesting night." Daniel said before also shaking her hand and smiling warmly. The two men went back into the living room leaving the girls to say goodbye.

"Thanks again Rachel, tonight's been great." Quinn said sincerely.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Rachel replied before looking down at her shoes and then back up to Quinn. "Goodnight then" she said softly.

"Night Rachel" Quinn replied, smiling down at the diva before opening the door and going out to her car. Rachel watched as she got in and waved before starting the car and rolling off the driveway and into the dark night, her tail lights eventually disappearing from view as she turned the corner at the end of her street. Rachel shut the door and wandered back into the living room.

"I like her Rachel, she'll make you a good friend." Mark said much to Rachel's surprise.

"I know daddy, night" she smiled at her dads and hugged them before going upstairs to complete her nightly routine and going to bed.

"I think Quinn will make her a good friend." Mark said to his husband.

"Yeah she will; it's obvious she cares about Rachel." Daniel replied. "She was very mature in replying to your criticism."

"I wasn't criticizing, I was just a little wary is all. You can hardly blame me."

"I suppose not but still, you were a little hard on the girl."

"I don't think I was, anyway if I didn't challenge her then we wouldn't be having this conversation now."

"We would, it's obvious that Quinn cares about Rachel from the way she looks at her and how she was all concerned when she stormed out at dinner, which by the way I think we need to talk to Rachel about, it's getting slightly ridiculous now the amount of times she storms off."

"Nonsense, she's just a teenage girl, they all do that."

"And you would know because..."

"They just do it's their hormones or whatever."

"Sure, sure." Daniel teased causing his husband to roll his eyes. "But anyway, yes I think Quinn will be good for Rachel, bring her down to earth a bit."

"I think so." Mark replied folding up his paper and getting up to stretch allowing a yawn to escape his mouth.

"Time for bed I think." Daniel laughed getting up and following his husband upstairs leaving the living room in unbroken and perfect silence.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Ok sorry this took so long to write, I didn't have a clue what to write about but here it is now, a bit lighter than some of the other chapters but I hope you enjoy it all the same.**

Quinn opened the door to her illusion of a home and dumped her keys in the pot on the telephone table. She could hear the sound of a news reader's standardized voice dully muffled by a half open door. Her father's voice cut over the TV to give some uninsightful, half drunken comment on the current story before the quiet sound of liquid being poured liberally into glass washed it all down. Quinn sighed and continued down the hallway to the stairs. She almost wished her parents would interrogate her about her whereabouts this evening just so she could be sure they cared, even if it was just anger directed towards her at least that was something, something more than the wall she was currently receiving.

She was more jealous of Rachel than ever after tonight. Admittedly it was a different kind of jealousy; she didn't want to take her hurt out on the diva anymore however it was jealousy all the same. Her dad's cared so much about her, that was proven when Mark had shamelessly interrogated her before dinner and she wished her parents could care half as much as that. She wished her house could be half as much of a home as the Berry's. Instead she inhabited this hollow house with her two fake parents and her misery and ever expanding emptiness for company. She wanted someone to care about her, about where she went, who she was with, what she did.

"Quinnine? Is that you?" her mother slurred from the living room. Quinn's heart jumped; maybe they did care after all.

"Yes mum." She half replied half asked.

"Lovely" it was a hollow statement, devoid of any real emotion. It should have been full of relief or happiness however it just signalled the clicking back in to place the normality of the Fabray's life, their daughter was home, they were drunk and life was fine on the face of it. Perfect.

Quinn's head sagged as she trudged back upstairs to bed. It was foolish to think things had changed, especially during the time she was sat happily in the Berry's home. She got changed for bed and lay awake in the half darkness of her room until she heard the sounds of her parents making the short journey from the longue to the bedroom for their alcohol induced sleep and she resigned herself to her life, this was how it was going to be either until she got the strength to leave them behind and find what she wanted.

Quinn's Saturday began in the usual way; she woke up at 9 and went to Cheerio's practice at 10.30 before accepting the offer of a trip to the mall with Brittany, Santana and a few other members of the squad. They had been hanging out since about half 12 and it was now 3 the other Cheerios had gone off to somewhere or other leaving just Quinn, Brittany and Santana who were wandering aimlessly around the huge expanse of shops.

"So where were you last night Q? I phoned but your mum said you were out." Santana asked after taking a sip of the drink she'd bought only a few minutes earlier.

"Why'd you phone?" Quinn asked trying to avoid the question.

"To talk to you why else?" she asked sarcastically. "Anyway, that's not what I asked Q, where did you go last night? You weren't with Finn or Puck were you?" she asked with genuine curiosity, at least she had friends that cared deep down, that had to count for something.

"Of course I wasn't with them!" she snapped back, again attempting to avoid the answer.

"So who were you with? God Q, why is it so hard to get a straight answer out of you?" the Latina replied with her usual attitude.

"It's not hard to get-"

"Who were you with?" she asked in exasperation.

"I went to dinner at Rachel's" Quinn caved. Santana's eyebrows practically disappeared under her hair.

"I knew it" Brittany called out in satisfaction causing both Quinn and Santana to look at her in question. The tall blond shrugged her shoulders and continued walking; Quinn followed her closely followed by Santana.

"Since when do you hang out with man hands out of school?" she asked sceptically.

"Stop calling her that!" Quinn snapped.

"Alright, chill out Q. How was it then, Rupa-"

"S!"

"Sorry, Berry's place." She finished with a smirk.

"It was good."

"Just good? Aren't you gonna give me any details? Was her room as disgusting as it is in her video things?" She jibbed.

"No, it was nice, she has a nice house."

"So you were in her bedroom then?" Santana asked with a grin which Brittany was sharing, Quinn went red with embarrassment.

"Shut up S!" she said with unconvincing anger causing her two 'best friends' to laugh. "You are unbelievable!"

"That's why you love me." Santana said with a joking air of smugness between laughter. Quinn just shook her head.

"Do I even want to know what you were up to last night?" Quinn asked as their laughter subsided.

"Probably not" Santana said with a mischievous grin.

"Why not?" Brittany asked with a puzzled look before turning to Quinn, "S took me to the park and then we went back to her's and-"

"Ok B, I don't think Q wants to know any of that." Santana grabbed the girl's hand and looked down at the floor at embarrassment. Quinn giggled at her friend's embarrassment; if that was her then Santana probably would have hit her for divulging 'private' information. "No need to be smug we still don't know what you were doing in Berry's bedroom." Santana warned her with a smirk.

"Not what you think I was doing, get your mind out of that gutter S." Quinn joked.

"What gutter?" Brittany asked with her usual puzzled tone.

"Doesn't matter B, Q was just being an ass. So what were you doing in her room then?" Santana asked with genuine interest.

"I had to go her after she stormed out of dinner" Quinn smiled faintly at the memory of the evening.

"She does that at home? I'm surprised her dad's haven't murdered her." Santana said with a worrying amount of seriousness.

"It's kind of endearing." Quinn said without really thinking.

"_Endearing_?" Santana repeated dubiously.

"Um, yeah I mean, no. Sorry, what?" Quinn attempted to back track but instead ending up flailing.

"You said endearing." Santana stated with a quirked eyebrow. Quinn could feel her cheeks burning as she sought an answer.

"I'm not sure what endearing means but Q has a thing for Rachel." Brittany floated back into the conversation, causing both Santana and Quinn to snap their heads round to the blond in between them and freeze their movements.

"I'm sorry but what?" Santana asked with disbelief.

"Q likes Rachel." She stated simply before turning happily to Quinn "So are you dating? I like Rachel." Quinn looked at her in astonishment before she caught Santana's shocked expression and she looked away quickly.

"You have a 'thing' for Berry?" She enquired with eyebrows raised. Quinn wasn't sure what to say so attempted to deny it.

"Of course not, we're just friends!" she shot back and began to walk again.

"Wow you're a bad liar." Santana said with a surprising amount of humour. Quinn turned around to face her friends again, Brittany was gazing dreamily at Santana who was smirking at Quinn. "This is just too good." The Latina said with a chuckle. Quinn quirked her brow at the girl; she had expected the girl to yell at her or give her the cold shoulder, not laugh about it. "Of all the people in the school you chose Berry." She shook her head with a smile.

"I didn't choose anyone" Quinn snapped, she wasn't sure what she was angry about.

"You know what I mean." Santana replied.

"Can we get some ice cream?" Brittany asked completely off topic. Santana picked up her hand again and smiled.

"Sure, you coming Q?" Santana asked as they turned around, Quinn raised her eyebrow again, she really didn't understand her friends at all. Brittany could go from one thing to a complete unrelated topic in a matter of seconds and Santana wasn't giving her a hard time about liking Rachel.

"Um, yeah" Quinn said as she walked after the girls. Half an hour later they were sat in an ice cream parlour with 3 half eaten Sundaes on the table in front of them, it was nice to be away from the strict Cheerio's diet even if it was only for an hour.

"I don't get it" Quinn said as Brittany and Santana were feeding each other ice cream in front of her.

"Get what?" Santana asked without looking at her.

"Why are you ok with all this?"

"All what?" Sanatana asked distractedly.

"With me... you know."

"Liking Berry?" the Latina final looked at her after spooning a mouthful of ice cream into Brittany's waiting mouth.

"Well it'd be kinda hypocritical of me to judge you..." She said motioning with a spoon between her and Brittany.

"Even so, it's Rachel Berry, you hate her."

"I don't hate her, she just annoys me sometimes and it's easier to pretend to hate her than have to be friends with her and put up with her constant talking." Santana replied while turning back to Brittany and accepting a spoonful of ice cream, Quinn arched an eyebrow.

"That makes sense I suppose. I guess I just thought you'd be angry or freaked out or something." Quinn said taking another mouthful of ice cream.

"Q, I'm not your parents, not everyone's a self righteous, up-tight, judgemental ass, just 'cause we live in Lima doesn't make us narrow minded. And as I said before; it'd be kinda hypocritical." Quinn smiled at her friend's words, she didn't expect to be accepted and it gave her some hope. She felt much better than she did the previous night after getting home from Rachel's. Which reminded her, she needed to say thanks. Quinn pulled out her phone from her jeans pocket and switched it back on, she'd had it turned off since Cheerio's practice. It vibrated in her hand as she got on the new message screen.

_**Hi Quinn, I would like to apologise for my behaviour at dinner last night, I hope you still had a good time. Rachel x**_

Quinn smiled at the screen.

"Who you texting?" Santana inquired. Quinn looked up at her and went slightly red. "Of course." She said with a roll of the eyes before going back to eating with Brittany.

_**I had a great time thanks, and don't worry about it, what's dinner without a little drama? Q x**_

She sent it with another smile and set her phone down on the table before going back to her food and trying to resist the impending eye roll at Brittany and Santana's soppy display. Her phone soon buzzed again.

_**I'm glad you think that. So what are you up to? Rach x**_

_**I'm at the mall with S and B, do you want to come down? Q x**_

_**I'd love to but my dad's decided to have a spring clear out and I've been forced to help. Rach x**_

_**But it's autumn... Q x**_

_**That's what I said -_- Rach x**_

_**Haha, I'll have to come over and inspect your work sometime. Q x**_

_**You best come soon or it'll get dirty again. Rach x**_

_**I'm free tomorrow Q x**_

_**I'll see you at 1 then? Rach x**_

_**Sure, See you then =) Q x**_

Quinn placed her phone back on the table and went back to her now melted sundae.

"Finally!" Santana sighed reaching out and grabbing the blonds' phone.

"Hey!" Quinn said without making any attempt at retrieving her phone and instead drinking the rest of her now liquid ice cream.

"Another date then, that was quick." She teased after a minute, handing the phone over to Brittany.

"It's not a date!" Quinn said in irritation.

"No but you want it to be." She opened her mouth before closing it, she couldn't really argue with that and Santana gave her a smug grin so Quinn just settled on an eye roll. "I know; I'm unbelievable."

"Can I go?" Brittany asked as she gave Quinn her phone back.

"I don't think Q wants anyone to nestle in on her alone time with Berry." Santana jibbed.

"Shut up S! And no I don't think so B, maybe some other time." Quinn said trying not to rise to the Latina's words as Brittany sunk slowly at her words.

"Don't worry B, we'll do something together tomorrow." The blond instantly brightened.

"Anyway, I should probably be getting back now, I need to do some homework if I'm going out tomorrow." Quinn said getting up from the booth and grabbing her purse.

"Already choosing Berry over us." Santana jibbed and Quinn hit her on the arm as she left. "I would so hit you back now if I could be bothered to move." The Latina called with a grin before turning back to Brittany as Quinn rolled her eyes and left the mall with a warming satisfaction, she had friend's who cared about her and didn't want to judge her for being who she was. The thought was comforting as she drove back to her house and her unsympathetic parents and entered their unfeeling house to complete any work she had so she could enjoy tomorrow and Rachel for longer.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Well this has taken way too long to write, I kept delaying it because of school and a pretty bad case of writer's block but here it is, although I'm still not sure about it. I'm really sorry about the delay but it's the holiday's now so hopefully I'll be able to update a lot to make up for it**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy =]**

Quinn rang the doorbell of the Berry's house the following afternoon with a smile remembering Friday's dinner and how nervous she'd been. Admittedly she was still reasonably nervous to be stood there again. The door swung open before she had any more time to think.

"Quinn!" Rachel exclaimed with a smile.

"Hey" the blond replied with an equal smile.

"Come in, come in" Rachel spoke happily whilst waving her in before shutting the door behind her new and unlikely friend. It still felt slightly weird to be ushering the head cheerleader into her house but she could definitely get used to the feeling. "Did you have a good day yesterday?" she asked as they walked through the longue and into the kitchen.

"Yeah thanks, the evening was a bit dull but that's probably because I was writing an English essay. Did you finish the 'spring' cleaning?" Quinn said with a smirk, Rachel rolled her eyes prompting the blond to let out a laugh.

"Yes finally, my dad's took forever to clean out the study, they've gone out to buy some replacement furniture after it was decided that it was decided that what was already in there was inadequate."

"Oh, ok then." Quinn said leaning up against the worktop. Home alone; with Rachel. She stopped the trail of thought before it could escalate into something else.

"Would you like a drink? We have water, juice, tea, coffee?" Rachel asked turning to Quinn with a glass and her usual bright smile.

"Um, water'll be fine thanks." Rachel nodded and turned back around to get another glass and pour the water. "So have you done much today?" Quinn asked as the brunette turned away from her.

"The usual routine I suppose"

"And that is?"

"Wake up, exercise for half an hour, practice some scales, have a shower, eat breakfast, do homework and then practice some more singing."

"And you do this every Sunday?" Quinn asked with a raised eyebrow as Rachel turned back to face her.

"Every day," she corrected with a smile, Quinn's eyebrow rose to meet the other one. "How about you? Have a good morning?"

"Well, I slept until about 10.30 and then didn't get out of bed until at least 11.30, then I had a shower and ate breakfast and now I'm here. Sunday's my day off I guess." The blond said taking a sip of water as Rachel smiled at her.

"Shall we go into the living room?" Rachel said formally causing Quinn to smile and shake her head slightly.

"Sure," they walked into the reasonably large room and sat on opposite sides of the sofa facing each other. Rachel brought her knees up and smiled across at Quinn as the room settled into a reasonably awkward silence that Rachel tried to ease away with a smile. This only made things more awkward as both girls sat silently smiling at each other, taking the occasional sip of their drink. Quinn's eyes moved warily around the room as she tried to attempt not to stare at Rachel whereas the diva was obviously straining for something to say. Final a clumsily strung together sentence spilled forth from the compact brunettes mouth.

"Will you play piano for me?" Rachel blurted out before giving Quinn a nervous glance. The blond was surprised at the request to say the least, she was sure this wasn't the normal sort of thing people did together but then again normal people didn't make friends with people who'd tortured them for a year. Quinn's eyebrow raised and she gave Rachel a sceptical look.

"I don't know Rachel, I'm not that good and I don't want to bore you."

"Of course you won't bore me, I love listening to you play." Rachel said with a warm and sincere smile.

"Rachel, you listened to me play for all of five minutes." Quinn said with a shake of the head.

"Well let me listen to you for longer then." Quinn looked at her incredulously before the smaller girl rolled her eyes, huffed and pulled Quinn to the stool before the piano. "Play something." She said after she'd successful pulled the blond onto the velvet covered stool.

"I'll play if you sing." Quinn said with a smirk.

"Of course, what do you want to play?"

"I know how to play mad world if you know it?" Quinn asked glancing back at the piano and running through the tune in her head.

"It's a bit down beat." Rachel said with a dubious look. Quinn shrugged in response.

"I like it" she said glancing back at the diva.

"Ok then, we can try it." Rachel said after a few seconds. Quinn smiled before turning back to the piano and beginning to play. She glanced over at Rachel when she began to sing and gave her a wide grin which the diva duly returned. Quinn silently thanked her parents for forcing her to take lessons in Middle School as she was exposed to the full force of Rachel's voice directed solely at her, the brunette sung with her heart on her sleeve leaving herself totally exposed like she did in ever performance only this was something more, something significant and intimate and trusting. Quinn couldn't help but stare at the diva as she seemed to disappear further into her own world as she progressed through the song her eyes closed tight shut and fists clenching and unclenching.

Unfortunately like all good things the song eventually had to draw to a close and Rachel slowly opened her eyes as Quinn focused on the piano to play the haunting notes of the outro. Quinn slowly pulled her hands away from the keys and turned to face Rachel again who was looking at her with tear glazed eyes.

"You're really good Quinn, why don't you play in Glee? I'm sure Brad will enjoy the break and it will definitely give us an edge in sectionals." Rachel said blinking back any trace of leftover emotion from the song. The transition was so professional it made Quinn smile and shake her head slightly.

"Thanks Rach, you're voice is incredible, that's what'll give us the edge in sectionals, anyone can play piano."

"I can't" Rachel said, surprisingly ignoring Quinn's compliment. The blond smiled warmly at her.

"I'll have to teach you then." She said motioning for Rachel to come and sit beside her. The short brunette happily obliged and perched on the edge of the too small stool, her thigh pressing against Quinn's and causing the blond to blush slightly. Quinn gave a cough and glued her eyes to the keys before her. "You know chords right?"

"I know a few"

"Can you play a C chord?"

"I think so" Rachel placed her small fingers in the correct shape and played the chord, clearly straining to reach all the notes.

"Wow your hands are small." Quinn grinned causing Rachel to huff indignantly.

"There is nothing wrong with my hands!" Quinn laughed quietly.

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with them, their just very small. Maybe we should try some sales, you might find them easier." Rachel gave no reply and instead looked slightly put out, Quinn just shook her head. "C major's easy" she played the scale quickly on two octaves. "Just play it on one octave to start." Rachel played the scale with ease first with one hand and then with two. "C minor" Again Quinn demonstrated the scale with ease and Rachel mirrored it. "See, anyone can play piano." Quinn grinned turning to look at the Brunette.

"Teach me to play what you were playing earlier." Rachel said with a smile, Quinn turned back to the piano and played the main riff to Mad World.

"You mean that one?"

"Mhm" Rachel said with a nod of the head.

"Ok, I'll play the left hand and you play the right. So start on the A#" she instructed, Rachel placed her finger on the key, "Now copy me" Quinn played the riff at full speed and then looked expectantly at the diva.

"Slow down a bit, we're not all piano prodigies." Rachel said with a determined look.

"Sorry" Quinn played it through again slower and waited patiently as Rachel attempted to copy her finger's movements. The attempts continued for a few minutes before Rachel lost the little patients she had.

"I can't play it!" She said in earnest causing Quinn to laugh slightly.

"You've been trying for like two minutes Rachel, Rome wasn't built in a day."

"You can hardly compare this to the building of an ancient and very powerful city Quinn! I'll never be able to-"

"Give me your hand." Quinn cut over the ranting brunette offering her hand out to the diva. Rachel looked at the hand quizzically for a few seconds before taking it. Quinn had to force her breathing to come out naturally as the delicate, warm hand of the brunette melded into hers, she'd been frozen for a few more seconds than was natural before finally snapping out of her daze and moving their hands down onto the keys. She swallowed before beginning to position the diva's fingers in the correct places. "Right, so now you play here," she pushed down on one of her fingers "then this one," another, "and this," she continued to guide the diva's hands around the keys until they'd finished the riff. "You think you can play that on your own?" Rachel merely nodded as Quinn withdrew her hand, the look on her face could only be described as sheer determination.

After about five more run-throughs Rachel had got the riff and was ready for Quinn to add in the left hand however they were interrupted by the ring off Quinn's cell phone. She fished it out of her jean's pocket and checked the caller ID, it was her dad.

"I should probably take this." She informed Rachel before pressing the call button and putting the phone to her ear. "Dad?" she asked curiously.

"Quinn where are on earth are you? You're meant to be at the Church lunch?" Quinn's stomach lurched, she'd totally forgotten about the forth Sunday lunch.

"Uh, sorry, I forgot." The excuse sounded feebler than she'd expected, she ran a hand through her hair and stood from the piano stool.

"How could you forget? Do have any idea how this makes me and your mother look? Where are you anyway? What can you possibly be doing that is more important on a Sunday than God?" Russell demanded; his voice was as threatening as if he were stood in front of her.

"I... Uh, I have homework."

"Where are you!" He practically yelled down the phone, clearly she was a less convincing liar than most of McKinley gave her credit for. Quinn turned back to face Rachel with all the looks of a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Rachel gave her a concerned look.

"Nowhere, at home." Quinn said weakly.

"I'm warning you young lady."

"Quinn what's going on?" Rachel asked with concern.

"Whose that you're with?" Russell demanded down the line.

"No one, just a friend, she stopped by to give me the sheet our Math teacher asked us to do."

"Quinn?" the blond shot Rachel a pleading glance however the brunette mistook it for a call for help and walked towards the taller girl.

"Rachel" she breathed without thinking and instantly regretted it.

"Whose Rachel?"

"She's just a girl in my class dad."

"Is that the Berry girl? She's called Rachel." Russell's voice rose dramatically.

"No dad she's-"

"What do you think you're doing Quinn? Skipping church to visit the Berry girl!"

"I didn't skip church!"

"How dare you go behind your mother and I's back!"

"I'm not going behind your back, I'm trying to do math homework."

"Quinn, what's going on? Let me talk to-"

"Get back to church this instant and I'll be damned if you're allowed out of the house again for the next month!"

"Please Rachel!" Quinn snapped pulling the phone away from her ear and her dad's ranting, this was possibly the most unsuccessful phone call she'd ever made.

"I'll talk to him!"

"No!" Quinn pulled the phone back to her ear. "I'm not going back to church dad, there's no point now, I've missed lunch, I'll see you and mum at home."

"Don't you dare speak to me like-" Quinn closed her eyes and pressed the end call button silencing her father mid rant. She pushed the phone back into her pocket and looked back up at the diva who was giving her a concerned look.

"I've gotta go." Quinn said reluctantly, walking towards the door. Rachel grabbed her shoulder and turned her.

"What's going on?" she questioned with evident worry.

"I forgot I was meant to be at some church lunch." Quinn said with a shrug, trying to play herself off as being totally relaxed however Rachel obviously wasn't buying it. "My dad was just annoyed at me for forgetting."

"Dad's don't get that annoyed over forgetting a lunch." Rachel had heard most of the shouting from the other end of the line.

"You haven't met my dad." Rachel looked as though she was going to say something along the lines of 'well let me' so Quinn decided to cut her off. "And you don't want to, trust me."

"He can't be that bad." Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"I need to get back." She said while again making her way across the room to the door.

"Why doesn't your dad want you to see me?" Rachel asked before Quinn got to the doorway. "I mean, I know I have two dads and all but it's not that big a deal. He's never even met me." Quinn stopped walking.

"I don't know; he takes everything pretty far I guess. I think he thinks that just being in your house will turn me gay or something." Quinn smirked at the irony of the situation; she'd been pretty gay before she'd even heard of the existence of the two Berry men.

"Oh" Rachel sounded slightly sad which surprised Quinn, she hadn't expected Rachel to be disheartened by the beliefs of her close minded farther.

"It's only my dad Rach, it's not like I'm going to listen to him or anything." The blond turned back around to face her newly recognized friend.

"I'm just sick of people judging me and my dad's before they even meet us, not that anyone wants to meet us after they find out about my dad's." She looked down at the carpet blinking back tears.

"I want to meet you."

"It's taken you a year to get that far." Quinn felt guilt weigh in her stomach, she paused before speaking again.

"Rach, this is just some dumb old cow town, some people still believe it's wrong for women to vote, my dad included. What does it matter what anyone thinks of you or your dads, you're great people and it's everyone else's loss that they don't know that."

"It's kinda lonely here though." Rachel had succumbed to her tears now and Quinn walked forward and pulled the girl into a hug, she guided her to the sofa where they sat and Rachel cried into her shoulder.

"I'm here Rach, don't be lonely." Quinn said earnestly while rubbing the shorter girls back trying to contain her sobs. Rachel began to calm down after a good ten minutes of tears. Quinn had felt her phone vibrate a good three times during the time and was even more apprehensive to return home.

"I'm sorry" Rachel sniffed after regaining some of her composure. She pulled away from the taller girl and wiped her eyes with her hands. Quinn just gave her a warm smile and ran her hand up the girls arm in support.

"Don't be, I wish I could take back the last year Rach, I really do. You never deserved any of this."

"Thanks Quinn." The brunette said getting up from the sofa and sighing.

"I guess you should go then before I get you into more trouble with your parents."

"I'll call you tonight" Quinn smiled as she exited the room closely followed by the diva, "And remember you're never alone" Rachel smiled warmly and opened the door for her friend.

"I know, thanks for everything and I hope you're dad's not too harsh,"

"So do I, see you tomorrow"

"Bye" Rachel said as Quinn walked to her car and waved as she reversed off the driveway. Life was definitely looking up for Rachel however not so much for Quinn.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Right, here's a quicker update, I'm finally getting back into it =] This chapter was pretty fun to write and so I hope you enjoy it. I'd just like to say thanks to Love-Knows-No-Boundaries for her epic suggestion, I like it and if I don't include it in this story, which I think I will, then it'll definitely be posted as at least a one shot. Anyway, here we go.**

Quinn's heart had quickened as she drove home, after being delayed at Rachel's her parents were sure to know she hadn't been at home and of course her dad would know she'd been at the Berry's, even if it wasn't true he'd still think it was where she'd been, he never trusted anyone especially not his daughters. The car rolled up onto the infamous driveway to accompany the huge showy car of her parents. Quinn gulped, she was screwed. She patted the steering wheel before her.

"It's been nice knowing you; hopefully my dad'll sell you to someone nice." Quinn pulled out the keys and pocketed them before opening her door and cautiously getting out onto the cold concrete drive. She made her way to the door and after one final breath opened the door and awaited her father's yells.

"Quinn Rebecca Fabray! Where the hell have you been?" the blond cringed as her father's form appeared through the frame of the lounge door.

"Out." She replied as casually as possible however her voice came out weak and cracked.

"Don't you dare speak to me like that, I know where you've been, you've been at that Berry girl's house!" he accused mercilessly. He looked expectantly at Quinn waiting for her to admit it however his daughter remained silent. "Tell me where you were Quinn!"

"It's Rachel dad, I was at _Rachel's_ house!" she admitted a little stronger than before.

"I don't care what _she's_ called! How dare you go behind mine and you mother's backs! You were supposed to be at church Quinn, not talking to the daughter of the abominations."

"They're not abominations! They're just normal people I don't see why everyone has to treat them so differently." Quinn spat back with clenched fists, the guilt of Rachel's past words still weighing down on her.

"They're treated differently because they are sinners in the eyes of the Lord, we should not be encouraging their kind of disgusting lifestyle! You know that Quinn, how could you go against the word of God!"

"I haven't gone against the words of God! I was taught to love everyone the same and not to judge people by God!" Quinn shot back, the anger had already ignited a fire in her stomach and she wasn't prepared to back down. Her father seemed to be stumped as to a come back to her previous words and so resorted into stamping down his authority. Quinn almost felt triumphant until her sentence was read out.

"You're grounded for 3 months and I'm taking away your car, if I hear that you've so much as looked at that Berry girl again then you're grounded until graduation!"

"_What_!"

"You heard me young lady now get up to your room! We're going to confessions tomorrow so you can apologise to God for what you've done!"

"I haven't done any-"

"Give me your car keys!" Russell demanded reaching out his huge hand to his shell-shocked daughter.

"You can't take away my car." Quinn said indignantly.

"I bought it for you and until you learn to respect my rules then you won't enjoy any of the rewards that come with them!"

"How am I supposed to get to school?"

"Walk!"

"It's on the other side of town!"

"You should have thought about that before you disobeyed me!"

Quinn stared in shock at her father before pulling out her keys, her father snatched them from her hand and placed them in the key pot knowing full well his daughter wouldn't steal them from under his nose. His trust in her cowardice annoyed Quinn no end. "Now get up to your room, I don't want to see you for the rest of the day!" Quinn obeyed knowing arguing was futile. She made it up to her room and slammed her door in irritation before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell phone, she was glad she'd saved up to buy her own phone.

She skimmed through her contacts until she found Rachel's number and pressed the call button, her dad was probably already pouring his first drink of the day and she needed to hear the brunette's voice.

"Quinn?" came the familiar yet concerned voice of the diva.

"Rachel" the name came out as more of a sigh of relief than a greeting.

"Are you okay Quinn? Has your dad done anything to you?" the girl asked quickly.

"Of course not, he's a closed minded biggot but even he's not that stupid, he took away my car though and I'm grounded for 3 months, oh and I'm not allowed to look at you ever again." Quinn played it off as nothing.

"Oh" Rachel sounded disheartened which made Quinn's heart sink slightly.

"I guess I'll just have to wear a blindfold around you." The smile came through in her voice and the soft tinkle of laughter came through her receiver which made Quinn's smile grow. "Are your dads back yet?" she asked after the laughter had subsided.

"No they won't get back until late, I think they're going out for dinner together."

"I wish I'd remembered about this lunch then you wouldn't have been alone this evening." Quinn said as more of a thought to herself.

"I'll be fine, I have some work to do for tomorrow so I suppose it's good, I won't have any distractions."

"I'm a distraction?" Quinn asked with a smirk.

"A good one" Rachel replied which made Quinn's smirk turn into a large smile.

"I'm glad to hear it, but unfortunately I won't be able to be a good distraction at the weekend for a while."

"Oh how will I survive?" Rachel said dramatically sending them into a bout of laughter.

"Ok, ok no need to be sarcastic anyway I should go. See you, well hear you tomorrow." Quinn said happily.

"Bye Quinn." The blond smiled as they hung up setting her phone down on her desk she pulled out her laptop and began working on the history essay she had to give in tomorrow. She'd finished it by about seven and was just beginning to wonder what she'd do about dinner, her parents were probably pretty out of it by now so she could probably go down and see what was going in the kitchen. While having this inner monologue her phone vibrated with a text from Santana, Quinn picked up her phone and opened the message.

_**Party at Puck's if ur interested? S **_

Quinn looked up from her phone and wandered to the window. It was pretty dark already; a clear night and he stars were just starting to make an appearance in the deep huge autumn sky. She could go, she wanted to go, it'd be a chance to let lose a bit although the consequences would be pretty awful if her parents decided to check on her and couldn't find her although the likely hood of that happening was very low.

_**Sure, see you there Q x**_

The response was typed and sent before she'd thought it through properly. Quinn pocketed her phone and opened her door carefully. The usual sounds of Fox news and the clinking of glass streamed into her ear and she made her way silently downstairs. She glanced at the key pot and hesitated for a second, if she took her keys then it'd be obvious that she'd gone out but she hated the assumed power her dad had over her and taking the keys would show him that she wasn't a push over, that and the fact that Puck's house was a 40 minute walk and it was cold and dark outside.

Quinn grabbed the keys and made her way out of the door thankful that her house was as big as it was or else her parents would be sure to have heard the door shut. She got in her car and prayed the engine sound wouldn't alert her parents to the fact she was sneaking out and thankfully her prayers appeared to be answered as she got onto the street and down the road seemingly undetected. For once her parents alcohol problem seemed to be a blessing.

Puck's house was across town and Rachel's house was on the way so Quinn decided to turn up unannounced and ask her to the party, why not go all out and break every rule her dad had just set rather than just two. She pulled up onto the curb and ran up to the Berry's front door, ringing without hesitation.

"I didn't want you getting too much work done." Quinn smirked as the door swung open to reveal a very surprised looking Rachel.

"Quinn? I thought you were grounded?" the blond shrugged.

"There's a party at Puck's house and I wondered if you wanted to come?" Rachel looked slightly taken aback, this had been a most unexpected turn of events.

"It's a Sunday evening Quinn, we have school tomorrow."

"I'll bring you home early. It's only 7 now." Rachel still looked sceptical. "Come on, it'll be fun!" she reasoned.

"You're not even meant to be seeing me Quinn, you're going to be in so much trouble, you should go home before your parents realise you're out and crush your car or something." Quinn rolled her eyes and smirked.

"They're too drunk to notice I'm not around, they hardly notice me when they're sober." Quinn reached out her hand. "Come on, it'll be fun, I promise." Rachel looked torn she glanced back into her house and then back at Quinn.

"Let me get my shoes." She gave in with a sigh, Quinn's face split into a grin. "And you have to take me home at 11." She said while disappearing behind the door to grab some shoes and scrawl a quick note to her dads.

"Sure, sure, I'll get you back here at 11 on the dot I swear." Rachel rolled her eyes before grabbing her key and stepping out the house, locking the door behind her. Quinn opened the passenger door for the short brunette, which received another roll of the eyes, before climbing into the driver's seat and pulling away to Puck's house.

"How often does Puck have parties?" Rachel asked as they rounded the corner at the end of her street. Quinn shrugged.

"At least once a month, it depends when his mums out of town."

"Do you go to all of them?" Rachel asked with honest intrigue.

"Most of them, it's fun to let your hair down once in a while." Quinn replied whilst navigating her way round another block. They reached Puck's road after 2 minutes and pulled into a space on the now car lined curb. Quinn jumped out and went round to help Rachel out of the car.

"You're very chivalrous today Quinn." Rachel smiled.

"I try my best." They walked up to the house and opened the unlocked door, music was blaring out of the stereo in the lounge and people at varying stages of intoxication were milling around the small house, dancing, talking or grinding together. "Come on, lets get some drinks."

"You're driving Quinn and I don't drink." Rachel said in far too a serious tone for a party.

"Lighten up a bit, I'll only have one and I'm sure they'll be some alcohol free stuff somewhere." Quinn said as she grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her through the crowds to the kitchen. "Hey B" Quinn called across the kitchen to the taller blond girl who was currently staring down the waste disposal hole. "Where's S?" she asked and the girl looked up and smiled at Quinn.

"Hey Q, she's dancing, I came in to get us some drinks but I dropped my bracelet down the hole." She pointed down the hole she'd just been staring down. "Hi Rachel, I didn't think you liked parties." She said cheerfully.

"Quinn dragged me here."

"You'll have a great time." Quinn said squeezing the hand she was still holding and smiling at the shorter girl. There was cough behind her as Santana entered the kitchen.

"Get a room Q!" she teased causing Rachel to wriggle out of her hand and go slightly red as Quinn glared at the Latina. "Where's the drinks B?" she asked after smirking at Quinn.

"I dropped my bracelet in the hole." She explained pointing once again to the sink.

"Why were you even near the waste disposal?" Santana asked with a raised eyebrow however the blond just shrugged in response. Quinn shook her head at her so called best friends and turned to a still blushing Rachel.

"What do you want?" she asked pointing to the drink laden worktop. Quinn grabbed herself a wine cooler and offered one to Rachel, "they taste just like fruit juice, you'd like it." She offered.

"May I remind you Quinn that we are both 16 and that it is illegal for us to consume alcohol!" she scolded.

"Sheesh, lighten up Berry!" Santana called across the kitchen. "I can't believe you actually like her Q." Quinn turned round and glared at her friend who just shrugged in response before going back to fishing out Brittany's bracelet from the waste disposal unit below the sink.

"Just try one, it'll make the night more fun."

"For you or Berry?" Santana smirked handing Brittany her newly recovered bracelet.

"S will you shut up, go get yourself a drink or dance or something!" she snapped turning to face the madly grinning Latina.

"Ah but it's so fun to tease you Q, but a drink and a dance would be good. Come on B, these two are boring." She said grabbing herself a beer and handing Brittany a wine cooler winked at Quinn before exiting the room. Quinn turned back to Rachel who was giving her a dubious look.

"Don't listen to S, she's always grumpy before her first drink. Speaking of first drinks, what'll it be?" she asked steering Rachel's gaze back to the selection of drinks.

"Just a water please"

"Oh come on, try it."

"Quinn, I'm already at a party against my better judgement on a Sunday night, I'll have a water please." Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Fine, be boring" she opened the fridge and pulled out a mineral water before opening her wine cooler and walking towards the source of the music. The longue was full to bursting point of teenage bodies jumping and rubbing against each other to the beat of some generic dance music, Quinn managed to find a sofa and remove it occupants so she and Rachel could sit down and have their drinks. Rachel looked slightly nervous as she gazed at the mass of bodies before her, she sipped slowly on her water as Quinn smiled warmly at her. "You're alright Rach, they're not going to hurt you." She teased, having to practically yell to be heard over the music. The girl just nodded weakly in response, Quinn shook her head and gulped down some more of her drink. She'd risked a lot to come to this party and she'd be damned if she didn't enjoy herself. After a few minutes Quinn had finished her drink. "Do you wanna dance?" she asked Rachel.

"What?" Rachel yelled back, Quinn leant closer to the girl and asked again.

"Dance?"

"No thanks Quinn, I'm fine sat here."

"Come on Rach, it's a party, everyone dances."

"Maybe later." Quinn sat back in her seat, before standing and motioning to her empty bottle.

"I'll be back in a minute." She pushed her way back into the kitchen leaving a nervous Rachel on the sofa clutching her mineral water. She grabbed two wine coolers and made her way back into the lounge, sitting down a bit closer to the brunette this time, the drink already starting to boost her confidence. She offered Rachel one of the drinks and yet again she refused. "I can't drink two Rach, you'll have to have one."

"Give it to someone else."

"Just try it! It's not like you're gonna die or anything." Quinn retorted holding the drink out Rachel.

"Fine!" she snapped taking the drink and trying a sip. Quinn smirked in triumph. Maybe she might actually get to dance after all.

"How is it?" Quinn asked with a smile.

"Fine" Quinn shook her head and leant back against the sofa to scan the crowd for any familiar faces. Puck was dancing against some unfortunate Cheerio and Brittany and Santana were giving all the senior boys around them a show. Quinn rolled her eyes at the whole scene, this happened every party, she'd always be the one sat down as everyone else had a good time nut this time she was determined to join in with the fun. She looked back at Rachel who had discarded her mineral water in favour of the wine cooler, she grinned in success and took another drink from her bottle.

"Now can we dance?" she asked, her mouth practically ghosting across the brunette's ear. Rachel swallowed audibly at the unexpected proximity and Quinn's smirk grew.

"S-sure" she replied, Quinn got up and offered her hand to the girl, pulling her towards the mass of people. When they were suitably hidden among the faceless party goers Quinn turned back to face Rachel and smiled before beginning to move to the music, Rachel took another drink and began to move along with Quinn, her smile equal to the blonds'.

"Are you having fun?" Quinn questioned, Rachel looked questioningly at her, clearly she didn't hear, Quinn leaned in closer taking the opportunity to place her hands on Rachel's hips, "Are you having fun?" she repeated, her breath tickling the shorter girls ear. Rachel swallowed before nodding affirmative, "Good" Quinn said firmly as she pulled her head back however kept her hands placed firmly on Rachel's hips. Throughout the song they were pressed closer together by the crush of bodies until on one beat Quinn's thigh ground against the brunette and both the girls breaths hitched. They continued on both pretending to be unaware of their proximity but ultimately enjoying it until the large body of Finn Hudson loomed behind Quinn.

"Hey Rachel!" he yelled happily not even acknowledging Quinn's presence. The blond just rolled her eyes as Rachel looked from Quinn up to Finn.

"Hi Finn"

"What?" he yelled back.

"I said hi!" Rachel shouted.

"Oh, hey!" Quinn's eyes rolled once more at Finn's gormless stupidity. "Wanna dance?" he bellowed over Quinn's head. Rachel looked questioningly at Quinn, almost asking for her approval. It angered Quinn that Rachel actually seemed to want to dance with Finn instead of her despite the fact that she had expected it.

"Whatever, I need another drink." The blond said irately before skulking off through the crowd. Finn beamed down at the short brunette, placing his hands clumsily where Quinn's had delicately rested just seconds before. Rachel watched Quinn disappear into the bouncing curtain of people before looking up at Finn and half returning his grin.

Quinn wrestled her way out into the back yard and leant against the cold wood of the house, her head staring upwards into the still deep and clear sky. Why did Finn have to find them? Quinn was sure they had been hidden from everyone in the room, that's the way it had felt anyway. Of course it was expected that Rachel would chose Finn over her, she'd chose any man over her because she was a _her_. It didn't matter if her dad's were gay, that didn't make her gay as much as having a homophobic set of parents didn't make her straight. Life was screwed up like that.

"Hey Q, what you doing out here? You left your hot date all alone." Santana teased coming to lean against the wall with her, drink in hand.

"Fuck off S"

"Oo how much you had to drink?" she jibbed.

"Not enough" Santana released a bark of laughter.

"Where's Berry then?" she asked with a hint of genuine curiosity.

"She's dancing with Finn." Quinn spat out the boys name in anger.

"Why did you let her dance with him?"

"Well what else could I do? She's not mine S and she never will be."

"You sure you've not drunk a lot?" Santana asked with a smirk.

"Fuck you!"

"Ok, ok, chill out Q, it's not like he's much competition."

"What do you know about it?" She snapped pushing away from the wall. "Of course _he _is; he's got a fucking dick!"

"That doesn't mean shit."

"It does in Lima, it means he can date women and I can't!" Quinn retorted throwing her hands up in the air and turning back to face Santana. "It means he can have Rachel, and I can't."

"Q, you know that's rubbish."

"No it isn't, my dad won't even let me look at Rachel because she's got two dad's, how do you think he's gonna react when he finds out about me, his daughter? You can say whatever you want but it doesn't change things, Finn will get who he wants because he's a man and I'll be stuck being some second class citizen all because God made me different!" Quinn turned back away in frustration. Santana stared sympathetically at her best friend's back, she placed her can down beside the wall and put her hand on the blonds' shoulder as a sob began to wrack her body.

"Q" she said with as much emotion as she could put into the letter.

"Sorry Santana" the girl sniffed trying to regain her composure.

"Don't apologise, you've done nothing wrong by anyone, if this is who you are then people are just gonna have to accept that and if they don't then fuck 'em!" Quinn let out a strangled chuckle. "Fuck 'em all, they'll always be people who disapprove but they don't matter, what matters is that you're happy. If your parents can't see that then they don't deserve to be called parents." Quinn wiped her eyes and turned back to her friend with a weak smile.

"Thanks S"

"Don't mention it." The Latina said with a smile. "And if you do decide to tell anyone then I've got your back." The friends smiled at each other before Santana grabbed her beer can again. "You coming back in?" Quinn looked through the kitchen window and saw the clock it was 10.30 but she didn't feel like going back into the room to see Rachel dancing with Finn or anyone else for that matter and she needed to get back before her parents missed her.

"I should probably get back, i meant to be grounded." Santana smirked at her. "Tell Rachel to get a lift baqck with someone else. Say I'm ill or something."

"Sure, see you tomorrow."

"Thanks again."

"No problem."

"Bye S." And with that Quinn pushed her way back through the kitchen and exited the Puckerman residence. She drove the 15 blocks back to her house and pulled up on the drive as quietly as possible. The door was opened and closed in almost silence and she was greeted with the familiarly fake voices of news readers drifting in from the lounge, just how she's left it. She put the keys back in the pot and tip-toed upstairs in near silence, getting changed and crawling into bed within minutes of re-entering the house. It really was too easy.


	13. Chapter 13

Quinn awoke to the piercing beeping of her alarm clock and the equally stirring autumn sunlight streaming into the room. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stretched under the covers before reaching out for the phone on her bedside table. 2 missed calls from Rachel and 3 texts, not as many as she'd expected but still unhealthily satisfying.

_**Where are you Quinn? I need to get home it's 11 o'clock! Rachel x**_

_**Quinn, it's 11.15, where are you! Rachel x**_

_**Santana said you left already, why didn't you tell me you were going? Rachel**_

She closed the messages and dropped her phone back onto her desk before rolling over and stretching out again with a yawn. It was then that it hit her that it was 6am and she had to be at Cheerios practice in an hour and she was without a car. She let out a groan and threw the covers off herself before shuffling into her bathroom and practically falling into the shower. After possibly the quickest shower she'd ever had Quinn was out and dressed by 6.15, hair in a flawless ponytail and all homework and books packed inside her Cheerios duffle bag. She shouldered the bag and jogged downstairs before grabbing her phone once more and sending Santana a text.

_**Any chance of a lift? Q x**_

She put her phone back down on the counter and set about pouring a glass of smoothie for herself as sounds of life could be heard filtering down from upstairs. Her phone vibrated against the marble countertop.

_**Its 6.15 fuck off! S**_

Quinn let out a laugh before texting back.

_**We have practice in 45mins Q x**_

_**You think I'm going to practice after last night?**_

_**Sylvester will kill you Q x**_

_**No she won't, she loves me S**_

_**Whatever, see you in History Q x**_

_**Let me sleep already!**_

Quinn let out a laugh and put her phone into her bag before putting her now empty glass into the dishwasher and preparing for a speed walk to practice. Just as she was exiting the room she was stopped by the small frame of her mother who was already fully dressed and ready for work, unusually early.

"Let me have a coffee and then I'll give you a lift." She said as though this happened every day. Quinn raised her eyebrow as her mother walked past her into the large kitchen and turned on the coffee machine.

"...Ok" Quinn said dubiously as her mother poured herself a coffee and took a sip. "Why are you up so early?"

"You don't have a car and I thought you'd need a lift." She said turning back to face Quinn and taking another sip of coffee. She had to hand it to her mum it was quite impressive how she managed to drink so much and then get up at 6 the next day and revive herself with just one cup of coffee.

"Won't dad be angry that you're giving me a lift?"Quinn questioned sceptically.

"Your father isn't up yet and I doubt he'd want you to be late for school over one minor slip up." A slip up, that was a nice way of phrasing it, it was a slip up that she was at the Berry's house, it was a slip up that she was now friends with Rachel and it was a slip up that she was in love with said girl and had been for about a year. If only her parents could see all of her 'failings' in that way, minor slip ups, hiccups within their perfect lives.

"Right" Quinn said turning back to leave the kitchen. "I'll be in the car." She said exiting the room and grabbing her mother's car keys.

The journey was strange to say the least, it was as though they were two strangers in a car for the most part, as though Quinn was some hitchhiker and her mother some random driver, their lives brushing for the briefest of times before they went on with their separate and opposite lives and forgot about ever meeting one another. That was until Judy broke the silence.

"Where did you go last night?" she questioned after they were about 3 blocks from their home. Quinn almost spluttered at her mother's question.

"What? I was in my room of course."

"Quinn your keys were gone for half the night, are you telling me you were just sat in your room staring at you keys before replacing them at some point before 12?" Quinn paled considerably.

"I could have been for all you know." She spat back with more venom than intended.

"Don't make this about me, I'm asking you where you were."

"What does it matter where I was, it clearly didn't matter to you or dad last night, you were too busy drinking to care what I was doing! I could have been out fighting crime for all you know."

"That's why I'm asking where you were." Judy replied with remarkable calm, Quinn was sure that if it was her dad she'd have been out on the sidewalk by now. Despite this she remained silent. "Your father doesn't know and I won't tell him if you just tell me what you were doing last night out until midnight?"

"I wasn't out until midnight."

"Right, so when were you out until?"

"11" Quinn gave in.

"And where were you?"

"At Puck's house." Her mother's eyebrows rose. "It was a party." Quinn explained.

"And who else was there?"

"It was a party mum, I'm not gonna reel off a list of everyone who was there."

"Who invited you?"

"Santana"

"And who were you there with?" Quinn paused for the briefest of seconds.

"Santana and Brittany." She said however her mum wasn't satisfied with the answer.

"Who were you there with?"

"I told you, Santana and Brittany!"

"Was that Rachel girl there?" Now Quinn paused for a more noticeable amount of time.

"Yes"

"Quinn, you know what your father said about her!"

"That's rubbish and you know it!" Quinn was starting to get angry again, she was fed up of people judging the girl for no real reason other than the fact she had two dad's rather than a mum and a dad. Judy Fabray paused this time and avoided Quinn's remark.

"Your father asked you to stop seeing-"

"He didn't _ask _me, he told me." Quinn remarked however her mother carried on.

"You are to obey your parents. It's a commandment Quinn."

"What do you think about her then? Do you think it's right to ignore someone because of things outside their control?"

"Your father has said-"

"What do you think mum? I'm asking you."

"It doesn't matter what I think."

"Yes it does, your my mum, I want to know what you think." They had pulled up in the school parking lot by this point and it was clear Judy was not going to make a reply.

"Have a good day at school, you'll have to make your own way back home tonight and don't sneak out again or I will have to tell your father." Quinn opened her mouth once or twice however couldn't think of anything to say so just opened the door and shouldered her bag.

"Thanks" she said bitterly before shutting the door with more force than necessary and making her way to the gym.

Quinn walked into History just seconds before the final bell sounded to signal the beginning of class, she'd timed it just so to avoid any time she might have to speak to Rachel. The brunette gave her a weak smile as she sat down however Quinn refused to acknowledge her and went about pulling out her books ready for the class.

"Hi?" Rachel said quietly as the teacher began to call out the register.

"Rachel Berry?"

"Yes sir"

"Hi" Quinn replied without looking at the diva.

"Why did you leave early last night?"

"I felt sick." Quinn replied coldly.

"Quinn Fabray?"

"Yes sir."

"Oh" came the brunette's reply, "You should have said something."

"You were dancing with Finn, I didn't want to intrude." Quinn replied bitterly causing Rachel to squirm slightly; she hadn't heard Quinn's HBIC voice for quite some time and the change was unnerving to say the least. Quinn was surprised at how bitchy that sounded however it was the truth, she was jealous.

"I would have gone with you." Rachel replied quietly. Quinn looked over at the brunette finally however the register was over and the teacher was in full swing so the blond turned her head back to the front and didn't reply.

After a brief set of instructions they were set to watch a video and make notes as the teacher went out of the room to do whatever it is teachers do when they're not in class. Most of the room erupted into chatter as soon as the door closed and any hope of using the video as a viable distraction disappeared.

"I had to call my dad's to give me a lift." Rachel remarked having got back some of her confidence.

"Why didn't you get Finn to give you a lift back?" Quinn said, the bitterness still lacing her voice.

"He was past the legal limit to drive and he didn't have his car. My dad had to drop him off at his place." Quinn practically crushed her pen at this new piece of information, ink spilt onto her notepad and hands.

"I have to go clean this up." Quinn remarked getting up from her place and exiting the room with graceful yet angry strides. Rachel stared after her in confusion and watched as she through the broken pen into the bin with unneeded force. Santana's eyes were also directed at her friend as she swept from the room, momentarily distracted from talking to Brittany and some of the Jocks sat in front of them.

Quinn stormed into the bathroom and violently twisted the tap allowing an angry jet of water to stream from the stained chrome. She began to scrub her hands to rid herself of the ink stain with unnecessary vigour until it was nearly all gone leaving a red patch in its place. She pulled out some paper from the dispense and dried her hands off before looking at herself in the mirror. What was she doing? She was going to completely lose Rachel if she couldn't control her jealousy and that was something she couldn't risk all for the sake of some dumb party and an even dumber teenage boy. She balled her fists on the edges of the cold sink and gave herself the once over, allowing her breathing to return to normal before tightening her pony tail and exiting the bathroom.

She returned to the room to find Rachel attempting to listen to the video over the racket of the class with that dramatically determined face. Quinn took her seat again and Rachel looked nervously at her.

"Do you have a spare pen you can lend me?" Quinn asked calmly to which the diva's face lit up.

"Of course" she smiled and reached into her pink fluffy pencil case pulling out an equally garish pen.

"Thanks" Quinn said accepting the pen with a smile. They remained in silence for a minute or so until it became apparent that the video could never be used as a viable excuse to avoid conversation with all the noise in the room.

"Do you feel better today?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, yeah, loads better."

"And your parents didn't find out about you going out then I'm guessing?"

"No, well my mum did but for some reason she didn't tell my dad." Quinn said with furrowed eyebrows, she hadn't realised how strange that was until now that her mum hadn't told her dad, she hadn't even properly told her off.

"That's good then."

"Yep. Show what did your dad's say about having to come and pick you up from a house party?" Quinn asked with a smirk.

"They were surprised more than anything, they'll probably have something to say about it tonight though, especially the fact that they had to pick me up and give a heavily intoxicated teenage boy a lift home." Quinn swallowed at the reference as she felt both jealousy and guilt at the fact that she'd just left Rachel at the party, she was actually surprised Rachel hadn't had a go at her for that.

"When did you get back?"

"It was about half 11 when I got into bed." Quinn paused for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry for just leaving you there, I just... I needed to get away from there."

"I know" Rachel said with a little too much sympathy and it made Quinn feel even guiltier. She swallowed it down and carried on with the conversation.

"So did you have fun then even though I just left you there?"

"Yes I had a great time; I never knew how much fun that dancing in a crowd of sweaty people could be." Rachel wasn't going to make this easy for her.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool. Did you dance for long?"

"Until about 11.05 when Finn went to get us drinks and I realised the time and I couldn't find you." No, she was definitely making this very difficult the jealousy came back with vengeance.

"Cool" Quinn said, she knew what she wanted to ask now, what she needed to know but really really didn't want to. "Are you two... dating then?" she asked with hesitance. Rachel coloured slightly, blood flushing her cheeks.

"I... Not really, I mean, you only just broke up with him Quinn and I don't want to just-"

"I-Its fine really, I ended it not him so it's fine." Quinn replied with a shaky voice, she didn't know what she was doing, her mouth was acting of its own accord, doing the right thing when her whole body was screaming for her to stop it, to be a bitch and keep Rachel all to herself, stop her from doing what she wanted just for the sake of what she herself wanted. It hurt but if she wanted to stay in any kind of relationship with Rachel than she had to let her make her own decisions.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked with apprehension.

"Totally" Quinn replied with a weak smile, why did being selfless hurt so much? Doing what was right was meant to feel good surely but this made her feel awful; conflicted and jealous. Then Rachel gave her the warm and bright smile and the pain seemed to dim for a few brief and glorious moments before the teacher re-entered the room causing Rachel to turn away and Quinn was struck with the implications of her words. She still had Rachel but only as a friend, she had her knowing full well that Finn had more, Finn had the part she longed for or at least he would have it in the not so distant future.

The bell rang above their heads and Quinn began to pack away her stuff rolling the pen back across to Rachel who mumbled a muffled goodbye before leaving the classroom. Quinn exited the room and walked to her next lesson in a slight daze as she looked back over what she'd said to Rachel in the last hour. Today was going to be hell.

Glee club rolled around after an agonizingly slow day and Quinn entered the choir room to see Finn and Rachel sat side by side. The brunette gave her a wave as she walked to the chairs which the blond weakly returned before noticing their intertwined fingers and looking away, walking across the room to sit beside Brittany and Santana.

"Hey Q" Brittany said cheerful as she sat down.

"Hi" Quinn replied in a rather dulcet tone. Santana turned away from Brittany to look at her friend with an air of concern.

"How are you?" she asked with evident worry.

"Fine" Quinn replied equally monotonous.

"You don't look fine." Santana replied.

"How do you want me to look?" Quinn bit back.

"Don't take all your shit out on me Q, you could have stopped it." Santana snapped back but before Quinn could reply Mr Schuester entered the room and practice began. Finn and Rachel were unbearably coupley throughout the session which inspired many bitchy remarks from Santana and equally forlorn looks from Quinn while the rest of the Glee club just looked a little sickened by the new couple. Thankfully practice was cut short as Mr Schue had an appointment or something and so Quinn only had to endure just under an hour of this new optical torture.

"Do you need a lift home Quinn?" Rachel asked after saying goodbye to her oversized boyfriend.

"I-"

"Look Manhands do you think Q wants to get a lift home from a boyfriend stealing, argyle wearing, dwarf?" Santana interrupted Quinn with her usual bitchy attitude.

"I..." Rachel was actually lost for words after that display, she didn't think she'd hurt Quinn by dating Finn, she'd even asked her permission.

"Exactly, now run along home treasure trail." Santana waved with a mockingly sweet face. Rachel looked from the Latina to Quinn in hurt and question before quickly exiting the choir room.

"Rachel" Quinn called as the diva exited the room before turning to Santana with an angry expression. "Why did you call her that?" she yelled.

"Because she's a bitch, come on if you want a lift." Santana said picking up her bag and exiting the room, pinky interlinked with Brittany's.

"She's not a bitch, I said it was fine for her to date him, it is fine for her to date him, it's not like I own her or anything, she deserves to be happy!" Quinn called as she followed the two girls down the corridor. Santana stopped and swung around.

"Don't give me that self righteous crap Q, what about you? Don't you deserve some happiness?" Santana questioned, the blond was stumped for a return. She hadn't thought about herself throughout all of this. "You dumped Finn because you liked Berry and now you're letting him have her without a fight. That seems a little stupid to me." The Latina continued. Quinn furrowed her eyebrows, Santana was right, she hadn't even tried to stop it, if she really liked Rachel than she should try everything she could to get her. Her face set in determination and Santana gave her a smirk. "Finally she gets it." She said in triumph. "Now can we please get out of this dump?" Quinn smiled before following her two friends out into the parking lot to get a lift home and begin plotting her strategy to win Rachel Berry.

**A/N: Don't hate me for this turn of events; don't worry I hate Finchel so it will be kept to a minimum, I just enjoy a good bit of jealous!Quinn so I thought I'd write it in. Anyway, how long do you guys want the chase to last? I could carry on for a long while but if you're all impatient then I won't because I'm nice like that.**

**So there's the question; how long can you wait? Thanks for reading and please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Right, it's been a few months now, sorry about that. I haven't given up but it's just taking ages to find inspiration for this story and I'd be lying if I said I had a clear idea of what was going to happen next but I'll keep going. I enjoy writing this and getting the chapters out so I'll try and be a bit better next year… Anyway, Happy New Year! Have a good one and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Reviews are always lovely so click that little button below and give me your comments if you feel that way inclined…**

Quinn entered the history room to find Finn sitting on her desk facing to Rachel, the couple sat talking with annoyingly soppy looks on their face, Finn beaming dopily at every word that tumbled from the brunette's mouth and Rachel gazed back with a hopeful kind of gratitude, as if she were thanking him for asking her out, as though that deserved some kind of recognition and reward, Quinn gritted her teeth at the thought. She reached the table and gave a violent and intrusive cough to signal her arrival before shooting a death glare at Finn.

"You're sat on my desk." She said icily. The boys face fell and he seemed to shrink back in fear. Quinn had to suppress a grin, being HBIC really did have its upsides and being able to intimidate a boy nearly twice her size was definitely one of them.

"Uh yeah, right, sorry." He slid off the desk before looking back at Rachel and smiling again. "See you after class." He said with a grin before kissing the diva's cheek and striding across to his desk. Quinn glared at him before sitting down in her seat and pulling out her notebook and pen with unneeded aggression. Rachel had blushed at Finn's kiss and had taken to staring at the blank page in front of her, not attempting to voice her usual greeting. Quinn took a deep calming breath and looked over at the now crimson faced diva.

"Morning" she said as brightly as possible. Rachel looked up at her nervously.

"Hey" Quinn gave her a reassuring smile which seemed to put the girl at ease.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine thanks, how about you?"

"Never better" Quinn said with a playful smirk, Rachel diverted her eyes once again.

"Did you finish the essay?" the brunette asked without looking at Quinn

"Yeah, it took ages though. You?"

"Of course I did, it did take a rather long time though; I nearly ran out of time to post my daily myspace video." Quinn dropped her eyes back onto her work at this point, she'd forgotten about the myspace videos, after all; who went on myspace anymore?

"Oh right," the conversation died along with Quinn's confidence.

"Hey Rach!" Finn called from his seat beside Puck. Quinn didn't look up to glare at the boy this time she just stayed staring down at her notebook. "Was that essay in for today?" Quinn would have rolled her eyes if she'd have been listening but instead she was too consumed in her own thoughts. She needed to make it up to Rachel, just hanging out outside of school and apologising wouldn't cut it, Finn started on a blank slate but she had to wipe hers off before she could get anywhere serious with the diva. The teacher entered and the lesson began and ended as usual, another essay set and most of the jocks in detention for not completing the last one.

"See you at lunch Rach?" Quinn said as the class began to file out the door. The brunette's face fell slightly as she turned to Quinn.

"I said I'd eat with Finn today, maybe we can meet after school or something?" Rachel said with a small smile hoping the compromise would be acceptable. Quinn didn't even attempt to cover her disappointment as her face fell.

"Oh, cool, yeah 'course. See you later then perhaps." And with that she grabbed her bag and left as Finn approached their table with a grin. She knew they wouldn't be meeting after school, she had Cheerios and Rachel would no doubt be busy with homework and singing practice or seeing Finn, she'd have to be content with just seeing her tomorrow in class and then Glee although even that thought wasn't too comforting; sure she'd see Rachel but with a side helping of Finn.

"Bye Quinn" Rachel said before focusing back on the oversized boy who obediently took her books and then her hand. Quinn left the room without turning back to see Rachel follow her out of the room with a regretful glance.

Lunch and Rachel met Finn on one of the picnic tables just outside the canteen; Quinn was gazing at the brunette, completely unnoticed, through one of the large windows that lined the crowded room's walls. She gritted her teeth as the seconds dragged on and Finn was nowhere to be seen, if he didn't turn up soon then she'd go out and sit with the diva and then hunt him down and berate him for standing the girl up.

"Where the hell is Finn? Rachel's all alone out there waiting for the idiot." Quinn spat without looking away from the window.

"Seriously Q, it's 3 minutes into lunch will you just calm the fuck down, if you're that bothered then go sit with her." Santana returned in annoyance, the blond didn't look at her to respond.

"I can't go sit with her, she's meeting Finn, it'd be weird."

"And staring at her isn't? You're acting like some kind of stalker." Quinn's head snapped round to shoot a death glare at Santana.

"I'm not a stalker," she snapped.

"Well stop staring."

"I'm no-"

"Don't deny it Fabray, if you were anymore obvious the astronauts'd be able to tell." Santana shot back with a smirk.

"But we're inside..." Brittany commented with a puzzled look. Santana turned to her and gave her a reassuring look, placing her hand softly of her leg.

"I was just joking B" the closeted couple shared a warm glance before Santana turned back to Quinn. "But seriously Q, stop staring, desperate is not a good look."

Quinn's face fell in remorse "I just care about her and I don't want Finn messing her around." Santana sighed as Quinn's face fell further, she honestly didn't know what to suggest, Brittany and her had always been friend's and their relationship just progressed naturally, they didn't need to pursue each other or worry about losing each other because it just happened and they both wanted it. She didn't have a clue on how to go about winning a heart from the clutches of an ex-lover especially when the owner of that heart happened to be one Rachel Berry, the girl inhabiting the sub-basement of the school hierarchy. Before she could decide how to reply however Brittany had wrapped her arm around Quinn in comfort and squeezed her shoulder.

"You'll win her over" the tall blond said in a surprisingly self-assured tone. Quinn leant her head on Brittany's shoulder briefly in thanks before the embrace ended.

"Yeah, it's not like he's big competition anyway, I'm pretty sure I saw him copy off Puck in a math test." Santana added for good measure getting a small smile of Quinn. They held her attention for another minute or so before she looked back out the window and found Finn now sitting across the table from Rachel who was explaining something while she arranged her lunch on the table before her.

Quinn watched the exchange with disappointment, she sort of wished Finn had forgotten so she'd have an excuse to go and sit with Rachel. She stayed reasonably quiet for the rest of lunch, glancing out the window at Rachel every other minute or so before the bell rang and all the students, including Rachel and Finn, made their way towards their respective classrooms for the rest of the day's lessons.

After practice Quinn settled down to the homework that had been building up over the week as usual. She'd just finished a chapter of calculus and was halfway through writing up the lab they'd done in Biology last Thursday when her phone vibrated on the desk beside her. She picked it up and read Rachel's name on the screen, a smile over taking her face.

**Up to much? Rach x**

It was a pretty bog standard text, nothing too interesting but generic was better than nothing. Especially when generic texts imply boredom which implies that the brunette was not with Finn or better still was with Finn but was bored. Quinn smiled before realising that she was reading way too much into it and needed to reply.

**Just doing some homework, nm, you? Q x**

That was sort of a lie now since all thoughts of homework had disappeared with the text.

**Sounds fun! =P I'm actually really bored, doing nm at all. I'd ask you to come over but I don't want to distract you from your homework and I think you're still grounded although that's debateable given that you were at a party last week. Rach x**

Quinn smiled at the length of the text, it was so typically Rachel.

**Thanks for the essay, and you're a good distraction =) Q x**

**It was hardly an essay and I doubt your teachers would agree that I am a good distraction Rach x**

Quinn's grin increased.

**Well I just won't tell them then Q x**

As soon as the text was sent the sound of a car engine rumbling onto the drive could be heard. The blond got up from her desk chair and walked to the window to see her mother's car pull up onto the driveway. Quinn looked back at the clock hanging on the opposite side of the room, it was only 7 o'clock; her mother wasn't due back for at least another half hour. She quirked an eyebrow before her phone echoed against the hardwood of the desk and all thoughts of her mother disappeared, it's not like her mother's arrival made any difference to her.

**I don't want to be responsible for a drop in your grades Rach x**

Quinn's eyes rolled around in another perfect loop of disbelieving humour.

**You're such a drama queen Rach, I'm sure my grades will survive one night's missed homework Q x**

There was a knock at her door and Quinn nearly dropped her phone at the surprise.

"Quinnie?" Her mother's voice floated in through the pristinely white door, sounding almost unsure.

"Yes?" came the younger blonde's curt reply. The door opened with a sharp click and the sound of wood brushing against thick pile carpet revealing her mother dressed in a tailored skirt, pale blue shirt and blazer, straight from the office and her robotic job.

"How's the homework going?" She asked with an irritating sense of familiarity, as if she asked this sort of question of her daughter ever evening, as if she cared how it was going. Quinn didn't gratify her with an audible answer and just a raised eyebrow; her mother's face seemed to fall minutely before that fake mothering smile reappeared more perfect than before. "I just came to tell you that your father is having a client over for dinner this evening." Quinn's eyebrow rose further, why did she need to know this, it wasn't as though she'd be needed or that she'd make any trouble. Judy answered her daughter's wordless question "He'd like for you to be there." Of course, it would look bad to have a girl shut upstairs, imprisoned in her room while you were entertaining some important client.

"Sure he would." Quinn replied turning back to her laptop and the homework that now seemed like a great distraction.

"Of course he does Quinn" Judy replied with the same familiarity.

"Don't lie mother, he doesn't want me there like he doesn't want me in the house anymore; I've only lasted this long because it would look bad to kick me out. Stop pretending you care, I'm over it." She took a deep breath to contain the tear threatening to escape from her eye as she gazed without seeing at the screen before her. She wanted so much for her mother to tell her it wasn't true, to say she loved her and that it was ok, she was ok being who she was, that her faults didn't matter to her. Judy lingered in the doorway as though silently debating with herself, deciding whether to give into that foreign emotion pulling in her chest or just stay out of it.

"Quinn," her mother breathed before pausing, unsure of how to continue. The debate was cut off by the ignorant buzz of her phone against the desk, closing off the subject. "You shouldn't be using that, you're grounded" Judy said without making any sort of move to confiscate the object. Quinn silently closed her eyes and resigned herself once again to give up on her mother. The older blond turned and walked from the room closing the door behind herself shutting Quinn back in with her disappointment, not wishing to face the guilt it carried.

**I'll make it easier for you, Finn's just come over. Enjoy the homework =P Rach x**

Quinn threw the phone at her bed; it rebounded of the cushion with a dull thud before skidding across the duvet and falling to the floor. Her night had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, dinner with her parents and as if that wasn't bad enough she'd now have to sit through the meal knowing that Finn was probably running his huge hands all over Rachel. What had she done to deserve this?

"Can I offer you a drink Mr Brownson? A Beer? some wine? a gin and Tonic? or maybe something a little stronger?" Judy offered as Quinn came down the stairs.

"Please, it's Richard and a gin and tonic would be lovely thank you." Came a deep and rather eloquent voice. Quinn took a deep breath before entering the room drawing the attention of the 3 current inhabitants of the room. She gave her mother a meek look, avoided her father's eyes and gave a shy smile to Mr Brownson.

"Richard, this is my daughter Quinn" Russell said with a faint sense of pride, standing up to direct Richard's attention. Quinn turned to her father with a slightly puzzled look; she hadn't expected to hear anything close to pride in her father's voice. She turned, recovering, in order to give their visitor a warm smile. He was about 45 with a quickly thinning head of brown hair, a large man although not fat, well-built rather like her father and equally as disguised.

"A pleasure to meet you Quinn," he said warmly taking her hand and giving it a delicate shake before turning to Russell "takes after her mother doesn't she?" Russell smiled before taking his seat again.

"She does indeed" he said taking his drink from Judy who had just walked in carrying a tray with 3 crystal cut glasses balanced upon it.

"Well you certainly have a fine family Russell" Richard said whilst taking his drink. "Thank you Judy, have her trained well don't you Russ" he said with a wink. Quinn had to supress the look of disgust that threatened to creep onto her face. Of course he'd have the same attitude as her father, she didn't know why she'd expected any different all of their friend's lived similar existences, why would clients be any different? The past few weeks of separation from her parents had actually been refreshing, it was strange how much the world view differed to that of her parents, or rather her father. Women were actually allowed to have their own views on things and live alone without a man to take care of. Not that Quinn thought it was bad to live with a man and do things for him, more that it was right to expect equality, a shared work load. Judy gave a clearly forced chuckle to Richard's poor joke. The amount of fakery in the room was quite astonishing to Quinn; surely they could all see that this wasn't real, that everyone was doing their best to appear perfect and falling miserably short.

"I do indeed" her father replied with a smile, taking a rather large gulp from his drink.

"Excuse me I have to go and check on the dinner" Judy said with a slight bow of the head. This evening would be almost comical if it wasn't for the fact that this was actually how the Fabray's live.

"Go and help your mother Quinn" Russell commanded, Quinn complied, eager for an excuse to escape the room. Upon entering the kitchen she found her mother taking another swig from a now half empty glass of what appeared to be brandy before bending back over the oven to check on the large piece of beef that was currently roasting in the oven.

"Do you need any help?" Quinn asked emotionlessly. Judy looked up at her daughter slightly startled and that's when Quinn caught sight of a sheen covering her eyes. She felt her heart tug slightly "Are you ok mum?" she said without thinking, cursing herself for caring. Her mother blinked and sucked in some air before turning back to the oven and replacing the door. She stood back up and took another drink without looking at her daughter, finishing off the amber liquid.

"Yes, go and see if the men would like anything else to drink." She said clearly looking for an excuse to get rid of her. Quinn paused, she didn't want to leave her mother, she'd never seen her showing any actual emotion before and now she was expected to return to her father acting as though nothing was happening.

"Mum are you sure you're-"

"I said go!" the older blond snapped turning to face her daughter with her still shinning eyes. Quinn's face passed from startled to hurt to indifferent.

"Right, ok" she left the room in complete confusion entering back into the living room and the obnoxious guffaws of the two men sitting inside it. "Would you like another drink sir?" she offered after they had calmed down.

Richard turned around with a proud smirk still plastered to his face "yes please" he replied simply. Quinn looked expectantly at her father who nodded his agreement.

"When will dinner be ready?" he somehow managed to sound proud through the mundane question.

"I don't know" Quinn answered with an air of defiance as though testing her father in front of their guest.

"Well find out then" he warned. Quinn turned and walked from the room without another look.

Her mother was already pouring out more drinks as she entered the room; it seemed that alcoholism was synonymous with being rich in the world her parents lived in. "Here you go" Judy said handing the tray to Quinn.

"They want to know when dinner will be ready" Quinn said with her now practiced air of indifference.

"I'm about to serve it now and lose that tone"

"What tone?"

"That tone, we're trying to impress Mr Brownson not expose him to your inadequate manners."

"I got them from you" Quinn shot back, Judy looked hurt for a miniscule, fleeting moment before her face turned cold once more.

"It's being served" she said as though erasing the last few seconds of conversation. Quinn exited the room with the drinks tray and a darker mood. She handed Richard the drink and then placed the tray in front of her father who was now engaged in a conversation about the state of the economy and how his company had managed to avoid the worse of it.

"So when will dinner be ready?" Russell asked taking his drink from the tray.

"It's being served now" Quinn replied from her seat on an elegant yet uncomfortable armchair across from the two men.

"Good" her father replied curtly before turning back to his guest and rising from his seat. "If you'd like to follow on into the dining room" he said gesturing to the dark wood double doors at the opposite end of the room. Quinn went back into the kitchen to help her mother take the food through as her father continued to schmooze his guest with scenes of a house lifted from the pages of an expensive interior design magazine.

Two bottles of wine, a bottle of gin and the better part of a cow later the adults seemed to be in a world of their own, one of blissful pride and arrogant scorn for anything below their own perceived station. Quinn was trying to decide how best to escape and disappear back into the haven that was her room, the guise of homework looking like her best bet.

"Sorry but I wonder if-" she started after detecting what seemed like a lull in the conversation.

"Quinn knows the Berry girl, she's in her year. Isn't she Quinn" Russell Fabray announced. Of course the Berry's would have to come up; it wouldn't be a true Fabray meal without a few condemning, ignorant words on the matter. "She's a bit funny isn't? Not like the other students, they've probably passed on their disease." He stated matter-of-factly to Richard who was now also in that sixth drink state of self-righteousness, hanging on Russell's every word on the subject. The whole conversation had become almost comical, words were being slurred and Quinn, who had remained totally sober throughout the meal, had given up on trying to follow their last topic of conversation that seemed to have been plucked from thin air and discussed to death.

Russell and Richard were both looking at her expectantly; she shot her mother a glance across the table, Judy had given her a slightly concerned look before diverting her eyes when she saw that her daughter was looking at her. Typical, no help found there.

"Um yes, she's in my year." Quinn answered turning back to Richard who was still looking at her expectantly, she dredged back through her memory to see what else needed to be said in reply to her dad's questions. 'She's a bit funny?' well that's true enough, Quinn thought, she is definitely different but that's what's good about her, she's not afraid to be different and stand out. "She does stand out from the crowd I suppose. But she has a boyfriend." Quinn offered, sticking up for Rachel in part. Richard's eyebrows raised slightly before he turned back to Russell.

"A boyfriend? They're getting better at disguising themselves." Quinn had to choke back her laughter at this point, it came out as a sort of spluttering cough, she tapped her chest with her fist twice before taking a drink of water to divert the attention away from herself before wiping her eyes discreetly. Oh the irony of the situation, her dad was as blind as anyone else when it came to these things, his own daughter had been crushing on a girl for over a year and her two best friends that had been coming over to regularly since preschool had been in some sort of relationship for as long as she could remember. This however was unknown by the other 3 people sat at the table and so the travesty continued. "Who is he?" Russell asked sounding slightly intrigued. This should be fun, Quinn thought.

She took another sip of water before simply replying "Finn". Her father's face contorted in a sort of embarrassed anger. Richard on the other hand was confused as he had no idea who any of the people being discussed were and by the look on Russell's face it didn't seem likely that he would be enlightened.

"Indeed" Russell replied with an air of finality. Quinn looked at the clock, it was 10.30 and she had to be up at 6 for Cheerio's practice.

"May I please be excused, it's quite late and I have school tomorrow" Quinn stated getting up from the table without waiting for a reply. That revelation would probably cost her tomorrow but it was worth it to shut her father's obnoxious and self-righteous rambling up. She turned to her mother with an obviously fake smile "Thank you for dinner" she said curtly before making her exit from the room.

Quinn flopped down onto her bed and released a long sign before kicking off her shoes and rolling over and reaching for her phone that was still lying on the floor after she had thrown it in frustrating earlier that evening. She had a message from Santana and one from Puck which she deleted without reading, no doubt some arrogant proposition for the evening, before opening the one from Rachel.

**Finish your homework? Rach x**

The message was from 8.52, Finn's visit must have been a short one, less than two hours, slightly pathetic compared to Quinn's visits that usually exceeded 4 hours. Rachel must have gotten bored of the slug quite quickly. She debated replying, the diva would probably be in bed by now as her daily routine began at some ridiculous hour however it would be ruse not to answer her question.

**No I had to have dinner with my parents Q x**

She allowed the phone to flop out of her hand and land a few inches away from her head before getting up with a long exhale of air and entering her bathroom to get ready for bed.

When Quinn returned to her bed, teeth freshly cleaned and dressed in an old T-shirt and shorts, to find her phone lit up with another message. She fell back down onto the bed, picking up the phone in one clean movement. She rolled onto her back and opened the message.

**I thought they were ignoring you? Rach x**

**I wish. My dad had a client over so we had to play happy families for the night -_- Q x**

There was a bang as the front door closed below Quinn, she looked over at the clock, 10.55, she needed to sleep. Quinn put her phone on the white bedside table in front of her before climbing under the covers and switching off her light. She listened carefully to the noises downstairs, cutlery and china could be heard tapping lightly together as the dishes were cleared. Her phone vibrated once more against the bedside table and she stretched out to grab it.

**Did it go alright? Rach x**

**As well as dinner with your parents who ignored you for the past month can go Q x**

As she sent the text Quinn heard the heavy footsteps of her father on the stairs. She turned off her phone and put it under her pillow in case her father decided to intrude. The footsteps grew closer until the floorboard just outside her room creaked and the door handle was pushed slowly down with an unwilling groan. The door opened with the familiar brush of carpet against unpainted wood and the looming, backlight figure of Russell Fabray appeared in the doorway.

"Are you awake?" he asked loudly, stepping further into the room. Quinn didn't reply so he turned on the main light causing the young blond to sit upright and rub her eyes in response to the intruding light.

"What are you doing?" she cried in annoyance, "I've got school tomorrow, I need to sleep!"

"You should have thought about that before you decided to embarrass me in front of Mr Brownson!" Russell's voice boomed.

"I didn't embarrass you!" Quinn shot back in earnest.

"Well then why is it I find that you have allowed your boyfriend to associate himself with the Berry girl? Are you purposefully trying to ruin the name of Fabray?" Quinn looked at her father with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Of course not, you're being ridiculous! I'm not in control of Finn or Rachel-"

"I told you not to use her name!" Russell interrupted. Quinn made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat.

"You can't tell me whose name I can and cannot use!" She yelled.

"I can and I will, I'm your father and you will do as I say!" Russell yelled back with his superior air.

"That's crap! I won't follow you blindly, especially not when I know that you're wrong!"

"How dare you say I'm wrong, I wouldn't lead you astray! I want what's best for you and it would be best for you to ignore the Berry girl."

"Best for who? Your or me?" Quinn spat back.

"You of course, her father's life is sinful and you shouldn't be associated with it." Russell paused slightly before answering which only angered Quinn more.

"Just what I thought, it would make you look bad if I was friends with someone with two gay dad's."

"It's sinful!" Russell returned.

"It's sinful to hate someone and judge them. Love your neighbour dad!" Quinn shot back. Russell seemed to deflate slightly much to the surprise of Quinn who had expected to be grounded for at least a year after this outburst.

"I don't want you seeing her. Obey your parents." He said with a lowered voice before turning around and leaving the room and a wide eyes Quinn behind him. That went much better than she had anticipated. She thought the screaming match would have continued for a lot longer, fuelled by alcohol and anger however that was relatively painless. She wasn't grounded, her phone was still under her pillow and more importantly she was still in her bed, in her house. Was her dad going soft? Did he actually care about her?

Quinn was still sat staring wide eyed and shaken at the outline of her door, warm, dim light filtering in around it, ten minutes later. She took a deep breath before laying back and resting her head on the pillow and rolling over to sleep. It was a strange day, not good but not really bad either, an indifferent day but a step up from the miserable days that had been washing over her for the past month or so.


End file.
